The Voice of Life
by thegreatroshen
Summary: Zack is a puppy, Reno is a cockroach, Cloud is a chocobo, Sephiroth is human, Genesis is a drama queen, Angeal just wants to take a nap and Rill is the secretary who has to clean up after all of them. Just to add to her troubles, Jenova is stirring... Begins just prior to Crisis Core and will cover that entire game. Part 1 of 2.
1. Prologue

**A/N: First, this fic is not written by me, but by my sister. I am merely posting it on her behalf, after a great deal of persuading and not-so-patient waiting. Second, neither of us owns any of the characters except for Rill. To the best of my knowledge, all copyrights are owned by Square Enix. Third, this fic was originally inspired by a marvelously funny list created by a fellow called Thornescratch, "229 Things Sephiroth Never Thought He'd Say On The Phone" and its companion works, "111 Messages Left on Tseng's Answering Machine", "101 Memos From Rufus Shinra's Desk" and finally "48 Letters Cloud Never Wrote Home". Basically, my sister read those lists and asked herself "Who cleans up after these guys, anyway?" This story slowly developed from that original thought. Enjoy!**

Rill was many things. Calm to the point of madness, capable beyond imagination, and enough of a threat to make even the most unruly of Shinra Corporation's military forces heed her.

No one knew where she had come from, just that she had only been working for Shinra Electric Power Co. for a grand total of two weeks before acquiring a position as Sephiroth's secretary. The last one had quit in a seething fit after finding termites in her desk. Termites who didn't mind if they ate wood or cotton or synthetic fabric or metal...

 _This is what I have to work with..._ Nerilka smiled to herself, eyes flashing behind largely decorative glasses as she mentally rolled up her sleeves. _The Planet has high hopes for you, Sephiroth, Zack...Let's see if there's any substance behind the madness._

* * *

Nerilka 'Rill' Thomas was a young woman with pale skin, deep, vividly blue eyes and dark mahogany brown hair. She was capable of putting on a professional mask so flawless that hardly anyone would remember her if they saw her outside of work. Just as she wished.

She didn't like this company. But she had been told, whispered from a girl that she called friend and kin that there would be something she could do to change the world, hopefully for the better, if she chose to work there. Trusting Aeris, Rill took the interview and landed herself a secretarial job in a matter of minutes.

"Excuse me, sir?" She asked Reeve, the current director of Human Resources as a black haired man was escorted away from his office where there was now a gaping hole on the wall. "Was that a staged event as part of the interview, or is that what life is really like here?" She asked with such an innocuously polite tone that Reeve couldn't help but stare.

This woman is an angel sent from heaven... He concluded. Nothing less could guilt trip Zack so completely...

"After seeing that, Miss Thomas, do you still wish to work here?" She gave him a smile that sparkled with genuine amusement.

"I certainly do, Mr Tuesti. I shall at least never be bored. Or, if I am, I will know that something is wrong."

* * *

The simple life of a penpusher was hardly ever interrupted save by the occasional explosion or man racing through the halls screaming with laughter.

"I am new here." Rill started, gazing mildly at the ceiling. "But I presume that Jello dripping from the ducts is not a good sign?" The others in the room with her groaned.

"Everything always goes to hell around here whenever a platoon gets their Mako shots." One woman sighed. "You get used to it."

"It is not conducive to productivity." The new secretary said in a firm tone. "Generally, where would I go to find the culprit of such an act?"

"Um...either the detention area, or wherever the loudest fight is." The answer had hardly been given before Rill had risen and strode smartly from the room. All the work she had been given was sorted and completed to the best of her ability on the desk.

* * *

"Is this the manner in which SOLDIER of Shinra conduct themselves?" Rill asked crisply of the roomful of half-dressed, shamefaced men. She cast a disapproving eye over them, partly aware of her aura making the temperature in the room seem to drop. "They are so powerful and capable before any beast or enemy, and they are routinely made into clowns and fools by something so simple as a needle." Her voice cracked like a whip, driving the humiliation home.

"There are hundreds of children all over the world who dream of joining SOLDIER for the reputation you and your fellows have earned on the battlefield. How do you think they would react to find their heroes in a situation like this?" The men hadn't received this sort of lecture since they had left their mother's sides. After the ranting and commands of the drill sergeant, this tiny slip of a woman and her chastising words were somehow turning over a dozen strong, combat proven, tattooed and well muscled men into boys caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Beg your pardon, ma'am..." One SOLDIER dipped his head towards her in a hasty bob. "But the Mako shots give us a lotta energy and no real way to burn through it. And we don't always think things through like we should either..."

"And that should excuse the fact that you are grown men and should be more controlled than this?" Rill shot back at the speaker, arching an eyebrow. "Regardless of what you may think, it is still you who makes the choice to act out in this manner. Three floors have needed to be evacuated, and more than ten non-combat workers have been hospitalized as a result of your actions. If you will not hold yourself to standard, then the least that you can do is ensure no one else suffers as a consequence of your inability. Have I made my position clear, gentlemen?"

There came a soft chorus of assent from the guilty SOLDIER. With one final sweep of her eyes around the room, Nerilka exited the room.

Word spread after the first visit and it only took another two such instances of a five-foot-three woman utterly destroying the pride of Shinra's army before the 3rd and 2nd Class ranks all held a healthy amount of respect and admiration for the woman. The ultimate threat used by most superiors now was having someone inform Rill of your misbehavior.

Her ability to work unhindered had improved dramatically simply by forcing the SOLDIERs to take responsibility for their actions. Their overall record for trouble had dropped startlingly. If they caused a problem, they would help clean up the mess.

And it had only been one week since she started.

 _You are doing well._ Aeris said, sounding amused.

 _How is making the company largely responsible for the Planet's agony more efficient 'doing well'?_ Rill's snippy comment merely made Aeris smile.

She loved her cousin. But… well, there was something to be said for staying in the loop. And Aeris was feeling a little too… romantic.

 _If you are using your extra sensory cognition to set me up with someone, I will tye-dye all of your clothing various shades of electric blue and yellow. Just a friendly warning._ And she would do it in such a way that absolutely no one could connect it to her. Being the nice, goody-two shoes most of the time was an excellent way of avoiding suspicion.

 _Oh liven up, Rill. You might even have fun...?_

Rill thought of the brief glimpse of the future she had been gifted with upon her pondering her potential love life.

A woman in a pink dress with long brown hair. She had been kneeling and praying, power pulsing around her like the memory of a mother's embrace.

Then there had been a sword through her chest and she was falling...

The flash had come and gone in an instant, but it had terrified Rill as a young teen to the point where she feigned obliviousness about most things akin to romance and personal connection. She stayed behind her polite facade most of the time. It had gotten to the point where her chances of removing the mask were few and far between...and when she did get them, it didn't always come off so easily.

"Rill!" One young clerk wailed, panting and bent double before her desk. "My accounts were off! We're missing almost a metric ton of sheet metal in base stocks!" She flipped through some papers...then a few more files...

"I think I've found your problem, Jensen." She said, turning her computer towards the panicking man and pointing. "It seems the latest batch of fresh cadets are trying to build themselves a helicopter while on their first Mako high. I've also had some people come to me trying to find spare chopper blades, a tank engine block and enough fuel to power a rocket into space and around the world three times." She picked up her phone, preparing herself mentally for the battle of persuading security to actually use their damn cameras.

Her thoughts were far less...polite than what she permitted to come out of her mouth.

* * *

 _Well, that was worse than usual._ Rill thought mildly as she calmly pulled herself out from beneath her desk once the dust had settled. _I was wondering why everything in Shinra was either under construction, or brand new..._ She moved around sedately, ensuring that everyone in her room was safe from harm. An announcement over the miraculously functional loudspeakers soon answered some questions and given her a point of focus around which to rage.

An explosion from Weapons Development had caused the ceiling to cave in overhead. Or so the announcer had explained. She could hear people in the background yelling and cursing and the name Scarlet was prominently mentioned.

Rill dusted off her neat business attire. _I think I'll go slap that bit_ \- She exhaled, pulling a handkerchief from her pocket to prevent dust from entering her lungs as she made her way to the stairs. _Lodge a complaint. Personally. Hopefully where the sun don't shine, but that depends on how stupid she is being._

* * *

"You had no purpose in overcharging that device, Scarlet!" A man shouted furiously. "Testing is supposed to gather data! All you have managed to do is prove two things! First, that 40,000 volts is too much for those circuits, which is something we already knew, and second, that you have less than ten functioning brain cells!" Rill stood in the doorway, watching, her grip on a file she was holding growing tighter by the minute.

The large reinforced room was utterly wasted. There was dark soot covering everything and she saw that several men were working feverishly to evacuate some few souls who were still trapped beneath the rubble.

 _28 people injured. None dead, thank the Planet. But 28 people were injured, because this brainless excuse for a leech decided to try and show off!_ The young secretary tugged the sleeve of one of the men hurrying by. "Excuse me, could you direct me towards Madame Scarlett?" She inquired pleasantly. The worker gestured vaguely into the room as he rushed on, clearly angry as well. As she circled the edge of the room, she spotted a woman who could only be Scarlett given the outrageously colored dress she was wearing. An evening gown. During the day. For testing highly explosive weapons. _How in Hades did this leech become the head of a department?_

The man who was berating Scarlett was someone she recognized. Rufus Shinra himself was ripping into the woman for her carelessness. _Figured it would be someone with a lot of weight in the company. Otherwise, she'd have the authority to fire them._

Rill walked serenely, head held high and her face expressionless.

"Vice President. I have the damage report that was requested." The young man was clearly all but boiling with fury. The sight was an unusual one as he took great pains to present a composed and rational, if rather sadistic, face to the public.

"Yes, thank you." Rufus muttered, eyeing a completely unrepentant Scarlett with burning dislike. Instead of setting it down, Rill retained it and opened it.

"This is the information that has been compiled thus far. Twenty-eight in total have been injured, seventeen of which will recover within the week with minor care. The rest require surgery. Three of those have been diagnosed as needing extensive prosthetics in order to maintain their quality of life." Rufus hissed.

"Who was injured? Do you have their names?" Rill didn't let herself look surprised, but she rattled off the names as requested, watching the man before her intently. He was only a couple years her senior, but he was already taking responsibility. Granted, his motives for doing so were for personal gain...but she could not fault his desires so long as what he did was good and supportive.

He nodded slightly as he listened.

"Compensation for their injuries needs to be arranged." Rill jotted down the notes in shorthand, writing quickly and easily.

He proceeded to give a brief but concise rundown of what was to be done to ensure the care of the injured, including that their families were to be informed of the mishap immediately. Scarlett was swaggering away. Rill cleared her throat softly and flicked her eyes towards Scarlett when he shot a look at her.

"Don't move, Scarlett." He growled, anger coloring his tone again. "I'm not through with you." The audacious woman batted her lashes in feigned interest.

"Is that so, little Rufus? Well, you see the President will be wanting to see me. I don't dare be late. Surely you wouldn't want me to cross your father, the head of this company...?" Rill could see where this was going and decided to step in, acting out a little more than usual.

"Actually, there is a matter that requires your immediate attention, madame." She said crisply and clearly, moving around the room to hold a sheet of paper before her. Rill knew a tiny bit of her aura was leaking out again. A subtle influence that drew the eye and made people pay attention to her regardless of how inconspicuous she was. Her gift wasn't as strong as Aeris's, but that suited her just fine.

The other woman looked at the paper dismissively.

"Oh?" She asked, sounding and looking bored.

Rill didn't let the smile that she so dearly wanted to show come to the surface.

"Indeed, madame. General consensus in the lower ranks has called for your head. More than three floors of employees will be unable to work due to this accident. Their union demands compensation." Silence reigned for a beat as Rill let her words sink in for a bit before continuing.

"Several very creative suggestions have been put forward in how you could make this right. Some of them...are more extreme than others. Fortunately, it has been put to vote, and you are offered the following:" Rill held up the sheet and recited it from memory.

"Madame Scarlett, head of the Department of Weapons Development of the Shinra Electric Company, must do one of the following. Either she must compensate half pay for all those who are for some reason or another unable to work as a result of her actions. Or, she must resign her position without delay." Rill indicated the signatures resting at the bottom of the document. "In case you are unaware, these are the signatures of the Committee of Public Safety chairman and his vice, the spokesman of the Worker's Union, and the leading surgeon and head nurse of the infirmary."

Beautiful silence reigned as Scarlett's face began to slowly darken, gradually matching her name in it's rage at the manipulation.

Covering the pay of three floors of workers would absorb her monthly salary and then some, even the ridiculously inflated amount she had secured for herself. It would either have to come out of her own pocket, or out of her programs budget. Both of which Scarlett coveted jealously. It would set back her ambitions on both accounts, significantly hamper her ability to cause similar disasters on the one hand, or curtail her money fueled social climbing on the other. Both of these were generally regarded as the most aggravating parts of her personality.

And of course...resigning from her position would lose her both her status, and her ability to earn money. And since she had charmingly stabbed most of the competition in the back on her climb upward, she would not last even a week before someone came to exact a little vengeance.

"What...what is this...!?" Scarlett hissed under her breath, eyes stabbing at Rill hatefully. "You want something...you want my job." Rill remained as smooth and emotionless as a piece of white slate.

"I am hardly qualified for such a lofty position with my limited education." The subtle barb was on target and the skin around Scarlet's eye tightened.

She wasn't qualified either. There were several rumors circulating as to just how Scarlett had gotten her position on the board of company executives. Apparently the one about her trading some...explicit favors was closer to the truth than most thought.

"They can yammer all all they want." Scarlett said, a nasty smirk on her face as she turned away. "They're a bunch of peasants compared to me in this company. They have no authority."

"Actually they do." Came a deep voice from the door. "Since the company's founding there has always been a Worker's Union and they are capable of ousting an executive provided they have the signatures of five spokespeople for the different groups within the company." This mild statement made Scarlett turn white with tension now. She glowered at Rill, her eyes like chips of blue ice. She was certain if Scarlett could be bothered to dirty her own hands with materia use, she would have been blasted into a greasy spot on the floor.

 _Now, the coup de grace..._ She thought, keeping her face professional and composed.

"I believe the saying "Don't shoot the messenger" accurately describes this situation, madame." She pushed the contract into the livid female's hands, pressing down with her aura a little to ensure that she wouldn't be assaulted by the furious woman.

For once, there was no way that Scarlett could wriggle out of this. Not without causing a company-wide strike. And no matter what her influence over the President, it clearly didn't extend to his son for one, and for another he didn't keep anything that wasn't useful. If she became a hinderance to his gaining a profit, Pres Shinra would be the first to throw her to the wolves. She would get no help from him. And she had exactly no friends or allies willing to back her after this fiasco.

What's more, Rill could not get any blowback for this in any way Scarlet could reach. The deadweight agreement hadn't been her idea. The desire for Scarlet to make good her mistake was very real amongst her peers. And she had been only transparently honest when she had alluded that some people wanted Scarlet to pay for it in pain. Fortunately, there were cooler heads who had drawn up this plan with only limited influence from Rill herself.

The red-clad woman was trapped and she knew it.

 _I do believe I have just made myself an enemy._ Rill mused as she turned away from the woman, her gaze flicking back towards a stunned, but delighted Rufus.

"Will there be anything else, Mr Vice President?"

The blonde woman glowered at Rill for another long moment, various emotions pertaining to rage and frustration playing across her face. She turned and stormed out of the room.

There was utter silence for a minute after she left, then a man began to laugh uncontrollably. The same voice that had pointed out the validity of the Worker's Union. Something raced down Rill's spine. Neither good nor bad, but it was definitely a reaction.

Sephiroth.

The silver haired man was laughing, completely and wholeheartedly, bent almost double with mirth.

"Rufus-" Rill's brow twitched in surprise at the term. First name basis? Curious. "-where is this woman currently assigned? I want her. Anyone who can put Scarlett down like that has got what I need to curb the SOLDIERs!"

Within a day, Rill had been transferred out of finances and into SOLDIER, directly under General Sephiroth himself. She had anticipated that she would have to work her way up to a better position to interact with those whom the Planet had chosen and marked as special. This was either a tremendous burst of good fortune, an indication that she was doing something right, or it meant she was going to rejoin the Planet very soon.

 _If only I knew which..._


	2. Puppy!

Rill had some measure of pride in her ability to withstand awkward silences. But the one that she was in on the first day of her assignment to work directly under Sephiroth was fraught with one the likes of which she had never seen before. She decided to not break it and focused on her work for the time being. She answered calls, redirected them as necessary, filed and sorted paperwork, and signed where she was able.

It was the general who ended up breaking the silence as she carried over a stack of the morning's influx of forms for his signature.

"You're quieter than I expected." It went without saying for him that he hadn't expected her to be this...calm. She had called out Scarlet after about two weeks of employment. A member of the board of directors, the top of the heap in the company, and she had not only stood up to her but made her back down.

"That was rather out of character for me, sir." She said carefully. _I'm not normally the one that stands out._ No, she was much more attuned to fading into the background, at least that's what she thought. Aeris was the one who was always personable and friendly. People could hardly miss her. She caught a flicker of surprise from him at her unspoken message.

"Miss Thomas, is that the closest you have to a temper?" Rill allowed a thin, dry smile to form.

"No sir, that was my taking action when it was needed."

* * *

It took several days, but a smooth sort of understanding grew between Rill and her new employer.

It was a friendly, professional relationship.

She would come into work, and she would bring a canister of tea with her. She knew Sephiroth despised coffee as it reacted strangely with the Mako in his system. She had seen and heard first hand that he said some truly amusing things since his famed self control was dramatically reduced when he was in that state.

" _Nerilka, do you ever smile or act out at all?" The question was very spontaneous, but Sephiroth could be voraciously curious about information. He apparently wanted to 'figure her out'. Or such was the gossip she heard. He was very particular about those he interacted with and was rather...intense about his social life. That is to say, he sucked at human interaction when he couldn't just rely on the distant mysterious card._

 _This sort of question wasn't unusual, but what was different..._

" _...Sir, is there a reason you are sitting in your chair upside down?" He looked surprised, glancing over at her with slightly glazed eyes before appearing to collect himself._

" _Ah, my apologies." He righted himself. "I don't agree with coffee, but it is unfortunately a necessity."_

A few more similar incidents prompted Rill to offer tea instead of coffee, thinking it might be a better solution. Aeris grew flowers, but she was by far not limited to them alone. This particular combination of herbs and green tea was one that Rill found to be quite pleasant.

She had been bringing the tea to work for about two days before Sephiroth requested the recipe from her.

"I went out and tried a few of the teas on the market, but it just doesn't come out the same way..." The secretary hid a chuckle, picking up a receipt that didn't just have a...few of the teas on the market...it had all of them.

"Sir, how many of these teas did you sample?" She asked, raising her brow as she recognized several of them. "And who did you buy them from?"

* * *

Rill acquired several extra jars of Aeris' special mix and gave them to her boss. His method had been to search by smell until he found something relatively similar to what Rill herself drank then sampling it. However, as the entirety of the teas on the market had to be imported, they weren't very fresh and couldn't compare to what Rill drank regularly. The Silver General's mood and lucidity improved drastically after her intervention.

And that was just the beginning.

Most SOLDIER tended to act in very strange, impulsive ways when assimilating their latest Mako injection. But none were stranger or more outlandish than what Zackery Fair could get himself into.

Rill's first experience at handling him was certainly...interesting.

She had finished everything that was on her desk right then, something that she noted was becoming more and more frequent as she grew accustomed to the workload. She pulled out a book and began to read as she waited for something else to do.

"General Sephiroth speaking." Rill paused and glanced towards the door that separated her office from Sephiroth's. _Someone calling him directly on the landline?_ Most official business went to her first. So what was happening-

"How much maple syrup?" The normally composed man's tone was incredulity mixed with shock. _Oh dear._ Rill braced herself for a 'Special Incident' even as she reached into her desk drawer to produce the bottle of aspirin she felt would be necessary. As she entered his office silently, she was able to watch a wide variety of emotions roll across Sephiroth's face.

Despair

Pity

Laughter

Oh-Goddess-why-me

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Sephiroth hung up the phone and wordlessly took the aspirin, not looking Rill in the eye.

She settled to wait him out, standing just to one side of his desk, arms folded and smiling pleasantly. He inwardly admitted defeat seeing the signs indicating she wasn't about to let this one slide so easily. Even his patience quailed before hers and he eventually caved and clarified what the infamous 'Puppy' was up to.

"Apparently, he decided the hotel he was staying at didn't have enough syrup for the pancakes at breakfast. So he went and broke into a factory and consumed over 400 gallons of maple syrup... The cadet assigned to accompany him says he was...fuzzing in and out of sight. He was comatose when they brought him in."

Rill tilted her head and hummed thoughtfully

"Vibrations from the sugar high rising to the point where he transcends physical sight? If he's moving at that speed, it could prove hazardous to everyone involved."

"And even if it isn't what's happening, he's got so much sugar in him that if he doesn't stay active round the clock for several days, he might literally combust from the excess energy..." Sephiroth groaned. Rill considered this for a moment. Dispelling a sugar high with magic couldn't be that different from sobering someone up, could it? ... _I wonder._

"I'll be back in about an hour, sir. May I recommend a short nap to allow for the aspirin to take effect?" Sephiroth looked askance at the woman as she made for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To retrieve SOLDIER Fair."

* * *

Rill had earned herself a reputation as someone who was completely and utterly fearless. She could hear yells, clatters and the sound of glass shattering as she marched sedately down the hall.

As she approached the infirmary where the racket was taking place. Zack was being held by half a dozen people as they tried to inject a sedative. It was not going well as he apparently-

"Don't put that in me!" He squealed, sending three of the men flying as he lunged away from the needle.

-suffered from trypanophobia. That is to say, an irrational fear of needles and injections.

 _How in the name of Ramuh did he make it this far in SOLDIER?_ Rill wondered behind her expressionless mask.

"Zackery Fair." Her voice cut through the noise and he whipped around to look at her. Almost instantly a goofy grin spread over his face.

"I don't know who you are, but you're pretty!"

"I am Nerilka Thomas, the SOLDIER department's new secretary." She came within arm's reach of him. "I am here on behalf of the General." She took his wrist firmly and sat him back down. "You shall sit down and receive your treatment without complaint." She channeled her power into a Heal materia, purging his body of excess sugar as if it were a poison. _Ha! It does work!_

"Is that understood, SOLDIER?"

"Sure, pretty lady!"

* * *

Sephiroth noticed that that his new secretary didn't speak much beyond anything related to work and took it upon himself to occasionally make conversation. This didn't work out so well until the first few times Nerilka handled Zack's Mako high or some other antic and they had something to commiserate over together. Though honestly, the woman seemed more amused than exasperated with his antics.

"He does bring a certain liveliness to simple office work that I can appreciate. Given a deep breath and fresh outlook, and it becomes more amusing than a genuine grievance." The General honestly hadn't quite thought of it in that light before. Angeal usually did damage control on his student's madness, but with him and Genesis in Wutai for front line duty, it fell to him instead. It had been a nightmare for the last few weeks trying to find something for Zack to do that didn't end with half a sector painted bright yellow, or worse!

But Nerilka's opinion had offered him a new perspective. One that he found helped cut back his stress tremendously and gave him something to laugh about.

And laughing together was a surprising good way of breaking the ice.

* * *

"What has you in such a good mood?" Sephiroth asked his secretary as she re-entered his office after a desperate call from the infirmary to have her come and calm the hyper SOLDIER.

"Zack is fluent in baby talk and it is surprisingly endearing when he is using the puppy-dog eyes."

Sephiroth stared at her for a moment, making a mental note to give her a raise and learn how she managed to say that with a straight face.

* * *

"And how did you get him to fall asleep this time, a lullabye?" The immaculately dressed woman gave her boss a beautiful, flawlessly polite smile as she patted a snoring and smiling Zack Fair on the head.

"I played fetch with him." Sephiroth stared at Nerilka, deadpanning for a long moment before she explained.

"The human mind can only focus on one thing at a time and multitasking is a charade under the best of circumstances. The Mako injection stimulates and hard wires the brain temporarily so that it is forced to focus on one task for longer periods of time than normal. Ergo, give Zack a task to fulfil and he will fulfil that to the best of his ability and as swiftly as possible, then immediately return so long as you have some reason for him to come back to you for the next command." Her eyes sharpened. "I do not find his...eagerness to be good for his well being. I took it upon myself to ensure he would not be taken advantage of in his current state."

"So you made him buy groceries?" She shrugged at his question, continuing to chop and peel the vegetables before her with practiced ease.

"I said I would make him dinner if he gathered the ingredients. With that kind of motivation, he came back every time until he collapsed after the effects wore off. Would you care to come as well, sir?"

* * *

"Sir, don't answer any phone calls for approximately the next...24 hours." Nerilka informed him as she hurried out of the room, somehow managing to make even that look serene and calm. Sephiroth was taken aback at her behavior, but didn't think much of it until the first time he did pick up the phone, having forgotten her warning...

"General Sephiroth speaking." The chorus of ear piercing squeals made him drop the receiver for a moment.

"It's him!"

"There is a god! And we are hearing his words!"

"Kyaaaaa! Lord Sephiroth...!"

Fumbling in a most undignified manner, Sephiroth got the phone back on the dock, halting the tirade of adoring, grating adulation from the multitude of speakers on the other end. He jammed his finger on the mute button to keep the device from blowing out his eardrums from the nonstop calls it would be receiving for the next few days until his number was changed. He then got up and stalked out to find the leak in the company who had given his phone number to his rabid fan club.

Their relentless calling would tie up the phone lines of the entire department until it was changed.

He returned, frustrated and angry, to find his secretary was back. She was wearing a tight, icy scowl of displeasure on her face and radiating controlled irritation. He had seen battle hardened SOLDIERs cower in terror when she used that expression and would admit there was something inherently threatening about it.

"I heard a rumor that someone was going to try and gain some credit with his preferred woman by finding and releasing your phone numbers." She said calmly and crisply, placing the required paperwork down that would change his office number. The transaction would take several days at least, but he knew that unlike some, she would actually do her best to ensure it happened as quickly as possible.

"I intercepted your PHS number, but the office line had already gone out."

"Any notion of who?" He asked, just as frigid in his temperament at the hassle. This was the third time this had become necessary in the last six months and it was becoming bothersome.

"Not as of yet, sir. They've used third parties and are remaining anonymous as much as possible." Usually, it was the Turks job to look into this kind of violation of company protocol. However the feud between Turks and SOLDIER had decided to enter an active stage. Their 'help' would make a slug look like a Midgar Zolom after prey. Sephiroth resigned himself to at least another two number changes until they finally bothered to find whoever was giving out his number. After a certain amount of time, they would be ordered to do so since any leak was not a good thing.

"Keep an extra few copies of these paper circus on file, Nerilka." He said tiredly. "We'll probably have to do it again within the next few weeks." She nodded once and seemed to leave the matter at that.

Then Sephiroth noticed the small parcel of sinful delights she had slipped onto his desk.

The general couldn't help but smile as he took up the package and popped a cookie into his mouth, humming as the buttery-chocolatey flavors burst over his tongue.

Having a secretary who was efficient in the face of the madness that Nerilka had already dealt with in her first six weeks was rare. Her turning out to be an excellent cook and good friend material was an additional bonus. Sephiroth made a note to stash the remaining cookies in his locked drawer. Otherwise Zack would track them in here again. The boy had a nose like a wolf when it came to sweets...

* * *

Rill had grown rather attached to the General over the last month of working with him. And it sat wrongly with her to have someone she knew was usually levelheaded, strong and utterly fearless to be so resigned about this. Something as trivial and petty as a fan club of severely obsessed women who didn't know when to back off. What some people would do to earn some quick gil... And there had been a significant amount of money involved, she was certain of that. Her boss, who she had already grown to respect and like, and even see as a tentative friend, had enough problems already. With the inter-department backbiting, commanding an army in active conflict, being a poster child that was well known around the world, and moonlighting as a lab specimen, the last thing Sephiroth needed was more stress, especially something so gratingly irritating as desperate, horny women.

She had felt a burning rage at the casual way the head of the Science department treated people that had lit a fire in her belly from day one. What had really gotten it started was seeing Sephiroth go into the lab on his two feet, whole and healthy for a routine physical, then hearing he had to be wheeled out with barely enough blood in his body to survive. Rill had a soft spot for people who either couldn't or wouldn't help themselves. And somehow this awe-inspiring man set off that instinct. Had she been anywhere else, she would have set out on a vindictive, furious crusade that would not be stopped until justice was meted out. But right now, she would rather no one in the company know about her true personality or feelings. She had a reputation to maintain. Being the polite, icy professional was one dimensional, stereotypical and easy to hide behind. If anyone ever got the notion that she had a temper that could put Ifrit to shame, her anonymity would disappear. Having two distinct, contradictory personas would make her memorable. That wasn't what she wanted.

Her task right now was to find whoever was causing her boss distress and tying up the company phone lines...

 _I can't use any Shinra channels to find out who keeps on selling Sephiroth's phone number. Whoever sold it couldn't have done that either, otherwise the Admin Department would have found them. But Shinra doesn't control everything. Not yet._

The secretary slipped into a closet and quickly changed out of her business attire into the clothing she wore down in the slums whenever she visited Aeris. She pulled on her coat over it all to pass as a normal secretary going for lunch as she left, her gait leisurely and relaxed.

Rill knew the less official ways down to the slums and up again like the back of her hand. As Aeris had constantly been under watch, she had taken it upon herself to be the explorer of their dynamic duo and knew more ways to travel unseen than an alley cat. She slid down one route from the Plate to the slums before jumping to a line that went to the church roof, her gloves keeping her hands from being shredded by the cable she was using.

Gone was the calm, pristine professional that Shinra knew. This wasn't Nerilka, this was Rill and she was out to make things right for one of her few close acquaintances.

There weren't many people who knew Sephiroth's personal phone number who would sell it to the Silver Elite, and it was undoubtedly someone selling it. The majority of Sephiroth's diehard fans were the estranged wives of wealthy merchants and lesser branch executives. There was simply too much money available there for there to not be someone cashing in. The question was, who? They had covered their tracks very well inside Shinra. There was no way she could trace them there.

But everything in Midgar passed through the slums at one point or another.

"Miss Rill?" One scrappy youngster inquired, brightening as he recognized her. Rill smiled as she accepted the weedy boy's hug. "I thought we'd never see you 'gain after you gone'n joined the Uppers!" She laughed, ruffling his dirty blond hair.

"As if I'd ever be able to become a full class Upper, Tim. You know how they feel about slummies working up there!"

She chatted with Tim and several other children as they gathered to greet her and be her escort on the way to Elmyra's house. There was no safer way to travel the slums than surrounded by a gaggle of their native children. That, and the people down here weren't quick to forget their own.

Rill received many welcoming calls from small business owners and the salvagers on their way home from the trash heaps, collecting discarded materials from above the Plate to recycle and try to improve their lives.

Before she entered her aunt's house though, she turned to the horde around her, eyes sharp and glittering.

"I'm here on business, my loves." Her voice was low and almost purring with it's intensity a few words slurring together as she settled into the street cant of her childhood.

"Someone gabbed about ought they shouldn't have and it's making m'life down right difficult. Not to mention the life of one of m'mates." This got their attention, as they had long since declared that any friend of hers would have their aid as well. The majority of the children were standing straighter, waiting for some tiny tidbit of information to begin their search.

"What we lookin' for, Miss Rill?"

Rill's smile spread across her face, slow and calculating. She settled her hand on one hip.

"A phone number. Belongs ta someone inside Shinra, been in regular contact with upper crust Silver Elite. Look for a man who's desperate to keep his gold digger of a woman." There was a soft mutter among the back row as they discussed among themselves who might be a culprit from those Uppers that they kept track of for various reasons.

The odds of her target being a woman were fairly slim. The females of Sephiroth's fanclub didn't take well to outsiders, especially other women. Thus it was most likely a man. She had debated the odds of him wanting to get in his girlfriend's good books by giving her the number and she sold it, but that wasn't likely. There was a hierarchy among the obsessed, if one of the underlings had discovered such prime information, they would have reported to their...well, she was going to call the one in charge of the Silver Elite the High Priestess. Considering the first call she had intercepted had asked for "the great God of Smexiness, Sephiroth" it seemed closer to a cult than a simple club.

No. The guilty party was a man in desperate need of money with the positioning to be a regular useful contact for the fan club. That alone would put him on the gutter kids watch list because he shouldn't have as much money as he did.

Once her word was given and the majority of the children had gone on their way, Rill entered the house that she had called home for several years. Her dangerous, confident persona altered once again to something more light hearted and free.

"Auntie? Aeris?" Elmyra greeted her with a smile and a hug.

"So good to see you, Rill! I hope your job hasn't been giving you trouble? Come in! Sit down, sit down! I've just made lunch..." Rill couldn't help but smile at the woman who had practically raised her.

"Can't stay long, Auntie. They'll expect me back at work in an hour." The matron of the house shook her head, eyeing her unofficial daughter severely.

"And I suppose you'll insist on climbing that dreadful cable again to make it back instead of using the trains." Rill had the grace to feel some guilt for making Elmyra worry like this, and at the same time, was absolutely shameless.

"The cable will get me above the Plate in twenty minutes of hard climbing. The trains would take at least two hours, on the express lane, and cost me about 500 gil to boot." Aeris laughed as she entered, giving her cousin a quick hug as she did so.

"Mom, you know Rill isn't going to stop and you know she'll be smart about it. Stop worrying!"

"I can't help it!" The mother cried, throwing up her hands. "I cannot fathom how you two can be almost like peas in a pod some days and be so drastically different at the same time!"

"It's called being two different people, Auntie." Rill said pertly. "Besides, you gotta have someone to make you go grey and it isn't likely to be Aeris!"

"Nerilka Jillian Thomas!"

* * *

Spending a pleasant half an hour with her family brought Rill the peace to face the climb back above the Plate and replace her home face with her professional mask.

She would drop back below in a day or so to see what results had been found by her network. Her current task was making sure her boss didn't smash his phone every time one of the fan calls made it through.

"Sir, I could handle them if you like?" She offered, as it seemed right for her to do so. He waved a hand dismissively, running a hand through his hair.

"Don't. The last time one of my secretaries tried that, the poor woman was harassed by the harpies so much that she almost had a psychotic breakdown." Rill's smile didn't budge as her temper flared beneath her controlled mask. _That... goes beyond excessive. That goes beyond sane, reasonable and civilian. That is abuse. And it will curb itself for as long as I must tolerate its presence._

"Sir, I insist." Sephiroth took a good look at his secretary, her dark blue eyes having all but turned to ice and flashing dangerously. He almost felt hopeful as he allowed her to move the phone over to her desk towards the front of the room.

She continued to work calmly as she had before, but Sephiroth was so distracted, anticipating the first call that he all but forgot to do more than watch and listen as sharply as he could.

He wasn't in the room to hear Nerilka pick up the phone, but when he came back from reheating his tea, she was on the line with a flawlessly polite smile on her face as she listened to whoever was speaking on the other line. The murmur from the speaker fell silent and Rill sat up slightly to begin her counter attack. Sephiroth hid a grin behind the rim of his cup, leaning against his desk as he watched her.

"I see...ma'am. I have a suggestion to make in regards to your efforts." There was only silence in response. "Do you have a pen and paper at hand, this may take some time..."

Sephiroth found himself stuffing his fist into his mouth to keep from laughing hysterically as Rill turned the women on the other end of the line in neat circles.

"You cannot forget the blue chocobo feathers...No, any heat above 150 degrees will do...The hotter the better...Well, he does regularly give him his physicals, including pictures, so yes I do think he deserves that..." She held the phone away as there came a loud scream from the other end. "Shocking, I know... I look forward to working with you, ladies." Rill hung up the phone, looking extremely pleased with herself. She spun in her chair to grace Sephiroth with a polite smile.

"Please do laugh, sir. It cannot be good for you to suppress it for this long." And laugh he did. He threw back his head and all but howled with laughter

"You sent my fanclub..to tar and feather Hojo!?"

"You heard me do it and you are still asking for confirmation?"

* * *

About a week later, the director of the Science department was very suddenly given sick leave for undisclosed reasons. Rill managed to acquire a picture of the man once the Silver Hitsquad had finished with him.

Sephiroth kept in it his desk and glanced at it whenever he needed a chuckle. And a potent reminder that Rill was far more than she seemed. He looked at her, sitting primly at her desk and rapidly typing out the weekly report on the Third Class SOLDIER who were vying for promotion. Not a hair out of place, glasses covering her usually intense eyes, dark hair pulled back. The ideal secretary, including that she was easy to miss when she wished.

He then turned back to a report that had been handed him earlier.

A man had been caught selling personal information of himself and the other 1st Class SOLDIER to their fanclubs. This was counted as civil unrest and as he was caught red-handed after an anonymous tip off, the man had been dealt with accordingly.

 _That's a relief. Hopefully what they did to him will keep others from getting any bright ideas and keep this from happening again._ A thought occurred to Sephiroth after he had put it aside.

He looked up slowly at Rill...

 _She did disappear during lunch hour over the last three days...and I've already seen that she can accomplish the seemingly impossible with simple words..._

Rill could all but feel the curious gaze of her boss behind her and was glad that she had her back to him. Hiding the somewhat naughty little smirk on her face would have been much more bothersome.

As far as anyone else knew, she had had nothing to do with their leak's sudden discovery. And she intended to keep it that way too.


	3. A Roach and a Chocobo

"C'mon, Rill, don't leave me hanging!" She sighed, looking up at Zack to get a full blast of his pleading expression.

"If you put your foot in your mouth with your companions and are short a date because of your own idiocy, it has nothing to do with me." _How did this guy make it into SOLIDER?_ She thought despairingly.

"Pleeeeease?!"

"Zack stop bothering my secretary." Sephiroth said sternly as he entered the room. "I believe she already said no."

The spiky haired young man groaned, collapsing before her desk on bent knees.

"Please, Rill? I'm never going to live it down if I don't have someone! I'm out of options!"

"Call in sick, break a leg, find someone else. You have other options." Rill regarded him with piercing eyes over her glasses. "Really Zack. The last thing any woman wants to hear as that they were a last resort. If you have been playing the desperation card with any other woman, it's no wonder you haven't gotten any results." he opened his mouth...then closed it and actually looked pensive.

"Ya think so?" Rill resisted the urge to facepalm. Sephiroth oddly enough had no such compunctions. Though he naturally did so much more elegantly than most anyone else could have managed. Rill suspected Sephiroth could make faceplanting look polished but had never seen it for herself.

"Really Zack? Even I know that. I really thought Angeal would have taught you better."

"Angeal can't do anything right with girls! What could he teach me about them? How to act like a boring stick?" Rill thought back to what she had heard, then hid a smirk.

Zack only thought that. Angeal had a much larger array of tamer, more reasonable admirers than either of his more...flamboyant counterparts. Simply, it was because he was a well-mannered country boy at heart and to the city girls, there was very little more attractive than that.

She hummed a soft tune as she ignored Zack's continued pleas. If he couldn't figure it out, she wasn't about to help him.

* * *

Four months had passed since Rill had begun to work for Shinra. She still popped down below the plate regularly to touch base with Aeris. She was fairly good about not being seen. It had taken the Turks a month to realize she was even going down to the slums. They were watching her closely, but she heard a mischievous little giggle from the Planet say that Tseng wasn't going to spill the beans.

"Aeris, are you aware that the Wutian Turk has a crush on you?" She asked rather bluntly after watching the place where he was hiding for a bit.

The girl hid her face with her hands, blushing fiercely.

"She told me too...Please don't say that where he can hear..."

"He respects your privacy enough not to bug the church or the house." She assured her cousin easily. She let a broad grin spread across her face. "He's actually a pretty decent guy." Aeris responded by throwing a handful of dirt at her cousin as they tended the flowers together.

This resulted in a small scale battle with the two girls throwing soil at each other until Rill's phone cried out with the erratic, playful sound of barking puppies. She could think of little else more fitting for Zack.

As he was Angeal Hewley's personal student, and since his mentor was out of the country, on assignment to Wutai, he ended up reporting directly to Sephiroth, for both his triumphs and his more colorful mishaps. Thus, he had encountered Nerilka fairly often. She still wasn't quite sure how he ended up with her number...

 _It was either the incident with the holographic tonberry wandering around on Halloween, or the paperclips...Maybe the chicobo smuggling ring._ She hastily wiped off her hands and answered the phone. The voice that came through...wasn't what she expected.

" _Come on, come on, come on...! Pick up, pick up, pick up ...!"_ She blinked. It sounded like Zack had inhaled helium and was being fast forwarded...

"Is there a reason you sound like a four year old on a sugar high?"

" _Rill! You are a lifesaver! I need help! I'm in the Sector 4 sewer!"_ She heard a yelp over the line. _"You know, the one the Science Department dumps their live experiments in! Crap-!"_ He was speaking so rapidly she almost had to take extra time to process what she was hearing. Almost.

The Plant whispered something to her, sounding like she was trying not to laugh. Aeris had both her hands over her mouth as she endeavored to do the same. Rill quietly put the phone on speaker, doing her utmost to maintain her professional facade.

"Something managed to hit you with the Mini status, and you have no Cornucopia to change back. You cast Haste on yourself earlier and you are currently attempting to not get devoured." Rill said with amusement in her tone.

" _It's not funny!"_ Zack's voice cracked and squeaked through the tiny speaker, audible to both listeners. Aeris clamped her hands over her mouth all the tighter. He sounded like a deranged chipmunk. _"Soon as the Haste spell wears off, I'm done for! I'm barely staying ahead of this thing. AND I CAN'T KILL IT LIKE THIS!"_ His voice reached ear piercing qualities and Rill held the phone further away from her ear, reaching up to try and soothe the ringing she was now experiencing. Questions as to why Zack had called her instead of Sephiroth or anyone else in the SOLDIER department would have to wait. There were creatures more than large enough in the sewers that could swallow him whole as he was.

"Hold off for five minutes. Try to lead them towards Sector 5." She said dryly, turning her head towards the Turk stake out nest they had constructed once Aeris made it clear she was regularly coming to the church. She didn't know who was on duty at the moment, but they would be able to get Zack the help he needed. If not, their phones would.

" _I'll try."_ Zack squeaked as something loud crashed on his end of the line and he cursed impressively, making Aeris jump slightly. _"They found me!"_ Then a ripping sound. _"Damn it those were my favorite pair! Get back here and fight you dirty-"_ The line cut out.

Rill got another image. Zack hiding under an old newspaper and using the phone that hadn't shrunk with him and desperately trying every number in his registry to get some help.

Despite him being in very real danger, Rill couldn't help but chuckle as she strode over to the watch nest. Only Zack could fight a monster in the mini status, and in his underwear to boot.

Rousing the Turk pair took only a moment. But getting them to be useful was another matter. They were both drunk, completely plastered, having determined that Aeris wouldn't get herself into trouble. This would not do, at all. Her first reflex would have been to strangle them, but she contained herself...

She loomed over them, eyes flashing and the materia in her bangle glowing ominously. With dirt and grass stains on her hands and arms, and the former on her face, the only thing that stood out to the drunk pair was a pair of deep blue eyes almost glowing with fury.

"There is a SOLDIER who might very well lose his life in the next sector. l refuse to allow the slovenly habits of a pair of drunkards to get him killed!" She said tightly, her anger barely contained with clenched fists and stiff shoulders. The hapless duo, no matter how drunk they were, retained a certain amount of self preservation and attempted to run and hide from the raging female.

Rill caught them both by the ear before they made it ten steps, pulling them down painfully to hiss in their ears.

"Make no mistake! Veld and Tseng will both being hearing of this and see to it you are set to cleaning infantry latrines for the next ten years!" She channeled her energy into the Heal materia she had on her arm and purged their bodies of the alcohol and the resulting hangover, a necessary trick anyone with a Heal materia could make a living off of in some areas of the slums. Even as their heads cleared from their inebriation, she knocked their heads together with a brisk, brutal motion, setting them to ringing again. _Just for good measure. They clearly don't have much of value in their heads in the first place._

With a none too gentle boot to the rear, Rill sent the bewildered pair off into the sewers, seething with fury.

She was rather fond of Zack and her own inability to rescue him galled her more than she anticipated. Not only that, but her quiet afternoon with her cousin was completely ruined!

 _Rill?_ Aeris concern at her anger calmed her somewhat.

 _I'm fine, Aeris. I need to head back topside sooner than I thought today. Some imbeciles need killing..._

 _Rill. No._ Some days, Rill wished the Lifestream had a censoring option. _It doesn't need one. You know murder is illegal._

 _It's necessary! I promise! No one is going to miss them!_

 _I said no._

* * *

Reno and his current trainee, Alvis, who also went by Rod, had located Zack, still tiny, but making an admirable attempt at killing a monster known simply as 'Hungry' who was responsible for his current state. It took them approximately 17 minutes to find and kill the monster with Zack's aid. It took ten minutes to get the appropriate medical attention to let them begin their journey back. They took another hour on top of everything to return to HQ.

It took Rill about twenty minutes to return to the Shinra building. She made her report to Sephiroth about Zack's situation. He had been in a meeting with his PHS switched off and was less that pleased about a monster capable of that level of magic being let anywhere near civilians. As per his orders, she then filed for an investigation as to why a monster capable of casting Mini was let loose in the city by the Science Department, no matter how weakened it was. She took care to remain as obliquely polite as possible. She may not have experienced what Aeris had at the hands of men like Hojo, but she was not inclined to like anyone that caused pain as carelessly as they did.  
Rill also wrote a full report on the Turk's behavior, including the minute, incriminating details she had spotted in their lair. Veld and Tseng were both very interested in hearing what she had to say.

By the time the battered, exhausted trio returned to Shinra, Rill was back at her work, and the raging slum girl that had knocked two Turks on their rear was nowhere to be found. Dressed in a clean blouse, blazer and skirt with her glasses perched on the end of her nose, Rill was back to looking like the perfect secretary.

When Reno officially met her later to assist in planning the bi-annual clean out of the sewers, no one could understand why he cowered in terror from the polite, demure woman, insisting that she had an evil doppelganger haunting the slums.

"That's way more of a priority than any nasty in the sewers, yo!"

It took all she had not to choke with laughter on her tea.

After the meeting, Sephiroth spoke up."How did you manage to get Reno to fear you in the first place?" The secretary gave her boss a polite smile as she glanced up from her mundane clerical work.

"My best guess is I bear an unfortunate resemblance to whatever terrified him so. I cannot say more without confirmation and, as he has only recently stopped shaking whenever he is near me, that has been difficult to acquire." He hid a look that was bordering on a grin. Rill's sense of humor could be quite dry and he appreciated her sarcasm. It was one of the great pleasures in life to watch her deal with Heidegger. The blustering idiot couldn't seem to wrap his brain around the fact that he was being played each and every time they spoke.

"Sir, you deriving enjoyment from my interaction with those suffering from a severe deficiency of intelligence, while flattering to some extent, is rather disturbing in most other cases." Sephiroth couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Goddess, I love the way you talk sometimes!" Her expression was reserved and slightly inquiring as she regarded him...

Her boss appeared to be unaware that he was spinning in his chair rather rapidly with a grin more akin to what Zack would usually be sporting on his face. She picked over and picked up the landline.

"Hello, operator? Reroute all calls for General Sephiroth to me for the next day or so." She listened to his automatically questions as to why. "He appears to be having an adverse reaction to his latest round of Mako injections and isn't fit to take calls at the moment."

Once he assimilated the new energy, Sephiroth gave his secretary a nice bonus as thanks for keeping him away from interacting with most everyone.

"Anytime sir." She placed a bottle of aspirin and a fresh cup of tea on his desk without looking at him. Mako crashes were worse than hangovers. He was already nursing his second cup. She looked down at him with a smile that held a touch more mischief than she usually let people in Shinra see she possessed.

"If I may sir, you're even more cuddly than Zack when you're in the final stages of a Mako high." The great general whipped around, a faint flush of bewildered surprise on his face.

"Say what?" Rill then activated an enviable skill that most women seemed to have mastered. Selective hearing. She didn't respond to any questions about just what Sephiroth had said or done in his former state.

* * *

Sephiroth was nervous.

An unusual event in and of itself, but he had good reason for that.

Zack and Reno had hit it off remarkably, terrifyingly, well on Reno's impromptu rescue mission of the young SOLDIER. Both were missing and had been for several hours, and Zack was due for Mako injections today...

 _Of all the days for Nerilka to decide to disappear._ He bemoaned his ill fortune as he sat through a long, dull meeting with the board of directors and the president. Scarlet was eyeing him hungrily without even the decency to feign subtlety. Heidegger was yelling for more funds. Palmer was playing Tetris under the table on his PHS. Reeve was suffering as much as he was, clearly on the verge of falling asleep. He looked dead on his feet. The vice president was having some wandering thoughts as well. Veld was reflexively watching all exits and entries, Hojo was gazing off in his own twisted version of a daydream. The president was outright snoring! _Supplier meetings are always as interesting as watching paint dry._

For all the apparent lack of interest from the department heads the man trying to make his sales pitch about a new kind of construction material wasn't looking that discouraged. What was it again...? _A new kind of alloy from mithril and lead._ Sephiroth didn't have the luxury of simply tuning out. His mind, unfortunately, seized and stored almost every piece of information he came across.

Sephiroth all but sang aloud when a break was announced. He went to a small niche away from where the other department heads discussed and disparaged the hopeful salesman and dialed Neilka's number as quickly as he could.

" _Ah, hello sir. I was wondering when you would call- Zack, quit squirming! It's for your own good!"_ He relaxed.

"You found him then?"

" _Find would imply I was looking for him."_ The secretary replied dryly. _"In his mind, currently, he is not Zack Fair, SOLDIER 2nd Class. He is the the Spiked Fairy, stalwart defender of the Planet and savior of damsels."_

"And you were the first damsel who came along..." Sephiroth passaged the bridge of his nose. He didn't understand how Rill could have such a refined sense of humor in most cases, yet still sound like she was laughing at most of the idiotic things Zack did.

" _It was either myself or Scarlett."_ He flinched. With that kind of a choice, small wonder Zack had gone for Nerilka. For all she held herself like an Ice Queen, she didn't give off the same predatory aura that the head of Weapon's Development did.

"Where are you now and how soon can you strap him down?" He heard a slight scuffle and a metallic echo from overhead.

" _Zackery Fair, stop squirming or there will be no dessert for you!"_ The extra noise stopped immediately.

"Dessert?"

" _I promise him a home cooked meal if he behaves himself while on his high."_ And that explained everything. Honestly made, freely given, delicious food was not something one passed up on in the Shinra building. Not when the cafeteria had a habit of feeding it's employees...questionable substances.

Sephiroth heard another echoing clang from overhead and glanced up. _Rat must have gotten in the air ducts again._ He heard someone trying to speak on the other end of the line. Zack, probably.

" _Ah, Zack, for one thing speaking through a gag doesn't work, and it's for our good not just yours. For another, it's not polite to invite someone over to a house that isn't yours."_ Nerilka chided him gently. _"I must say, he does have a good point though. What do you say general? I'm already cooking for an army just to feed him, but there's room for one more."_ Nerilka's cooking...

There wasn't even a question about it.

"Nerilka Thomas, you are a saint." Sephiroth swore vehemently, already dreading the time when the meeting would resume and drag on for another three hours...

" _If you could see me now, you wouldn't think so. Six o'clock sharp, sir. My apartment. I'll see you then."_ There came another rattle from beyond the ceiling tiles.

"This is ridiculous!" Scarlett snapped, glowering overhead. "I want maintenance to look through the air ducts! It's horribly disruptive to have loose equipment rattling around in there!" Sephiroth felt a sudden chill... He lowered his voice even further.

"To satisfy my curiousity...why is Zack gagged?" He did not want to have to explain this to Angeal...

" _To keep him from disrupting the meeting, of course. Good luck sir, I'll see you tonight."_

Getting through the meeting knowing that Nerilka and Zack were watching in the air ducts was suddenly much more challenging. But at least now he was entertained.

* * *

Sephiroth had grown accustomed to Nerilka… Rill to the point that he hardly gave more than a second thought to her being nearby. She just always was. It was simply one of the laws of his reality now. So when Angeal and Genesis returned from Wutai to find that he was having an in depth conversation with a strange woman about chocobo hatchlings, he was momentarily confused as to the absolutely dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

Previously, his interactions with women of his own volition could be counted on one hand.

Rill regarded the other two 1st Class with her usual polite composure.

"Commanders Rhapsodos and Hewley, so glad to see you have returned safely." She looked at Sephiroth with a raised brow in silent query. The silver haired man nodded, a genuine smile on his face.

"Go on, you've already finished everything for today anyway." This brought a faint ghost of a smile to her lips.

"Pending any additional paperwork due to Mako induced antics." Sephiroth tensed...then sighed. The other pair of SOLDIERs exchanged bewildered looks for a moment. Were they missing something...?

"How many have there been?"

"Only three. All the appropriate forms have been prepared, they only need your signature."

"You're a godsend." Genesis didn't even wait long enough for the door to close behind her before rounding on Sephiroth.

"Who are you and what have you done with our antisocial asshole friend!?" Sephiroth didn't so much as blink.

"Hello Genesis, lovely to see you too." Angeal rolled his eyes.

"Right, good to be back, Sephiroth."

"Who was that and why were you smiling?!" Genesis's eyes glittered with an idea that the general was quick to cut off, kill and bury.

"She's my secretary." He said blandly. This didn't seem to register has having been said, Genesis was already contemplating the potential of the situation.

"She's a little...less than what I thought you'd go for. I didn't think you were the secretarial type." he grimaced. "Just a bit too conservative for my taste. Really Sephiroth, I didn't think you would settle for someone so plain." Angeal watched the friend he hadn't seen in months closely. HIs composure remained almost flawless, as usual, but there was a slight tightness to his jaw the more Genesis spoke so casually of his secretary...

 _Ok, so apparently he made a friend while we were gone._ He thought with approval. _If it's a real attraction or just a friendship is irrelevant, either one would be fantastic for him._

As the topic was deftly maneuvered away from the peculiar young woman, Angeal also noticed that the tension left Sephiroth's shoulders. The Crimson Commander had clearly thought little of the girl, who looked as though she couldn't be out of her teens yet, despite Sephiroth adamantly affirming both her competence and their lack of anything but a professional relationship.

Angeal didn't see much of the young woman when he stopped by to see Sephiroth over the next few days.

"She said she was going to be taking a bow out as you and Genesis tend to be a package deal and she has guessed that he doesn't have that high of an opinion of her." The general explained dryly.

"Avoiding a confrontation is only going to confirm his opinion." Angeal pointed out, not quite seeing why Sephiroth was so adamant in her defense of the girl.

 _Girl?_ She was exceptionally mature and the most professional of all the women in the company. She handled a workload that would have strained three with ease and appeared to have become something between a mother and an older sister to Zack. His apprentice adored her. But whenever he looked at her, he couldn't think of her as anything except a remarkable child. It was baffling considering all other signs indicated she was a petite, but very much adult female.

"Sephiroth, how old is Miss Thomas?" The other man paused, eye unfocusing...

"I don't actually know." He said, sounding somewhat surprised at the realization. "It's never come up in conversation."

"Does anyone know?" Sephiroth shrugged.

"Whoever gave the ok to hire her ought to know. It can't be that ridiculous."

* * *

Rill felt a small shiver squirm down her back, goosebumps prickling her skin from head to toe.

 _Something rather important has just or will soon take place._

"Miss Thomas?" Tseng inquired, his usual calm giving way to a raised brow of query. She was delivering the list of cadets that had washed out of the SOLDIER program. Those who were applying for work elsewhere needed to have their papers altered accordingly, those who were leaving for other parts needed to be marked accordingly.

"Just a draft." With her delivery made, she bade Tseng a good day, slipping him a note inviting him to dinner the next time he was guarding Aeris, and made her way back to her office on the SOLDIER floor. Or she intended to do so. There was a very strong feeling that she needed to pass by the infantry barracks of all things. And that she had best be armed.

Rill had a bangle with a few materia slotted. Using them was literally in her blood, she and Aeris had both discovered a very strong affinity for magic. All she had was a Fire and a Restore at the moment. But she had yet to ignore the Planet when she had given advice, so...

* * *

"What is the meaning of this!?" A young infantryman slumped against the wall, relief filling him at the sound of the authoritative female voice and the way it made the beating stop. His face was stinging as bruising formed and breathing was rather difficult through a broken nose...

"N-nuthin' ma'am..." He peered up through swelling eyes to see that the recently promoted 3rd Class, the ringleader of his primary tormentors, Hector, was looking as though the devil had come for his soul.

"Nothing? We shall have to see. Stand aside."

There was the clicking of shoes on the floors as a blurred shadow came and stood firmly between him and his tormentors.

He felt a gentle hand on his face and hissed in pain even though the touch had been more akin to his mother's hand than anything he had felt in months. Another prod to his ribs made him bite back a groan as pain lanced through his side.

"Can you tell me your name, private?" She asked, in a much kinder voice than the cold one he had heard before. Breathing was difficult, see: painful, but he had been raised to be polite and concise whenever a woman addressed him. Besides, after what he had been enduring, he would have sung for this woman if she had asked it.

"C-Cloud...Cloud Strife." There came a soft hum and his breathing eased, some of the pain in his chest loosened up, his eyesight cleared a little. Enough to see that she had a small band around her upper arm. The SOLDIER emblem was in prominent display. She had dark blue eyes and brown hair and a gentle, extremely pretty face. In his mind, only his mother could beat her in beauty. He wondered absently how much of his current opinion was valid because he was slipping into shock...

"Lie still, Cloud. I'll finish healing you once I'm finished with them." She promised. She then looked back towards the other four SOLDIER, all of whom were looking as uncertain and nervous as he usually felt. _Must be a pretty high executive._ Cloud thought dazedly.

"I am afraid, SOLDIER, that you lied to me. There is very much something going on here. Or at least there will be once this is reported." She said crisply and frigidly, all the kindness Cloud had heard in her was suddenly gone. "You will have a great deal to answer for, Sergeant. Did any of you pay any attention to Commander Hewley's orientation?" There was only ashamed silence as to her answer. "I cannot hear your thoughts, speak up!" Her voice cracked like a whip and Cloud heard a mumbled chorus of negatives as to her question.

"If you had, none of you would be facing the possibility of immediate dishonorable discharge." This brought a sudden murmur from the four SOLDIER facing her as she continued.

"Those who are given the Mako enhancements are strictly and absolutely forbidden to attack the unenhanced except in self defense. Can any of you tell me why this is?"

There was only silence in answer to her question, so she spoke on.

"Because in your moment of... spirited ill thought, you almost killed this young man." The way she said it seemed to make the temperature in the hall drop. "You are fresh off your first enhancements, thus you are not thinking clearly. But rest assured, you will not escape punishment for this. Report your deeds to your Lieutenant, in full and sparing no detail. I will also be delivering a report." Which meant that they could not escape from this.

But this threat seemed to trigger something in one of the recently minted SOLIDER.

"Who the #$% are you, to order us around like we're your slaves!?" he stepped forward, looking threatening and his eyes glowing with emotion. "I didn't join SOLDIER to take orders from a skinny #$%&!"

"Stand down." She ordered cooly, not batting an eye at the man who managed to tower over her quite impressively. The others were taking their cues from their friend and were looking to resume their fun, but this time with two victims. Only one seemed to be thinking this was a poor idea.

"Greg, you can't be serious!"

Cloud struggled to rise. He couldn't let her get hurt because of him-!

"I don't take orders from either one of you!" He hissed, raising his hand to strike her. "That runt deserves what he's getting, and so will you-"

"You may not take orders from her, but you do take orders from me." The voice was unfamiliar, but it was male, and very angry. As Cloud turned his head, he saw that there was a large man striding down the hall. Dark haired and with a considerable amount of stubble, as well as a sword that looked like it weighed more than he did.

"Good afternoon Commander." The woman inclined her head as if she wasn't being threatened by someone who could have broken her in half. "I take it you wish to speak to your subordinates. I have this young man's wounds to see to."

"You are correct, Miss Thomas." Angeal Hewley loomed over the four suddenly terrified SOLDIER, his rage almost palpable in the air.

Cloud didn't see or hear what the famous 1st Class said to them, as he lost consciousness when his savior lifted him from the ground.


	4. Diva, Shmiva!

Rill had been powering up the Fire materia in her band,enough so that she could feel she had burned a hole in the sleeve of her blouse. She was planning on a head-height lash of flame to blind and sear their faces. The human reflex to protect the head would have made them duck into range for a brutal strike to the chin to down them. SOLDIER or not, they were still vulnerable like any other human was to a naptap under the point of their chin. And if that hadn't worked...well, she probably would have gotten a few bones broken and no further harm would have come since her unauthorized use of materia would have triggered alarms and gotten some 2nd Classes and a Turk or two to show up almost instantly. Brawls among those receiving their first Mako shots were all but guaranteed, and they were allowed to beat each other into submission all they wanted. But the moment someone got it in their head to use magic, it was cracked down on with no mercy.

The young cadet, his face familiar from the file of SOLDIER washouts, was rather small and very light. He hadn't been eating enough to put on the weight he'd need. In fact, he was light enough that she could haul him about. It was far from easy, but he wasn't so heavy or cumbersome to make it a chore. He was no taller than she was, something that surely couldn't have helped his chances in the program when his peers were all half a head larger and looked better by contrast alone. He hung limply, rubbing against the bangle on her arm and she hid a wince as she shifted him to rest on another area to keep him from being burned.

She had overcharged her Fire materia. Channeled more of her power into it than it could take and use and it was still bloody hot. She had likely given herself a not inconsiderable burn that she wouldn't be able to expend the energy to heal that day. Not after she finished with Cloud.

Once she got him to a lounge area, Rill laid her patient down and began to charge her Restore materia once again. If she didn't do this carefully enough, his bones would heal crookedly and would have to be rebroken in order to mend properly. She was glad that he was unconscious, she had been told that being subjected to an almost full body healing was a slightly disturbing sensation.

She slowly passed the Restore over his body, lingering on the broken ribs until they popped back into place and were no longer constricting his breathing. She then texted Sephiroth to inform him that she didn't know when she would be back that afternoon, and settled down to wait until the boy woke up.

His name was Cloud Strife, she already knew that, but she found herself inexplicably charmed when he did finally wake up. He was really quite cute...

 _Did I just hear what I think I did...?_ Damn Aeris and her ability to get a live connection to the Planet constantly! _Deal with it, Rill. Now spill. I haven't ever heard you say those words and mean them about a human being before!_ Knowing that it was an exercise in futility, Rill let Aeris listen in on her conversation with Cloud.

He was fifteen years old, and was from Nibelheim on the Eastern Continent. He had a mother that he adored, but few other friends. His ambition had been to join SOLDIER and become a hero, but...

Rill fought the laugh that wanted to bubble up inside of her, from both her own amusement and Aeris's. Cloud was apparently capable of blushing an impressive shade of red.

But the Planet whispered that laughing about this...wasn't the right course of action.

Cloud needed support and encouragement in the face of his apparent failure. His self esteem was sitting somewhere between abyssmal and rock bottom. No laughter, however well meaning, was not what he needed. Not yet anyway.

"Well, you can always try the exam again." She said candidly, trying her hardest to listen to what would help him... Then something fell into place. _Ah...I see._

Cloud shook his head, looking somewhat dejected.

"Nah, no way I'd be able to pass after the way I bombed it last time..." Rill considered this statement, then decided a change of subject would be prudent.

"Why were they going after you in the first place?" She asked candidly. Beating around the bush would only make Coud even more uncomfortable and a straight question was more likely to get a straight answer.

He hunched his shoulders slightly, a reflexive defensive move that she didn't miss.

"They never really liked me in the first place, even when we were training...I guess they got ahold of some beer or something and didn't think to hold back." Another severe infraction and lapse of security since 3rd Classes were strictly prohibited of drinking alcohol without someone on hand to supervise. They were unused to the Mako and adding alcohol only made things worse. She texted the note to Tseng to have all barracks searched for liquor to prevent any other incidents. But there was something more to this...

What they had been doing hadn't been posturing or bluster, even with the violence liquor could bring...No, Cloud had done something to earn their ire...

"Didn't anyone try and stop them?" He shook his head.

"No. I told her to leave and no one else came along until you." _Her._ There was the issue they had taken exception to. Cloud had likely tried to stand up to them for the sake of another woman. His behavior when she had almost been struck indicated Cloud had a chivalrous streak. Likely something of the way his mother had raised him. Rill made a mental note to contact the woman and informed her she had raised a fine son.

Rill didn't react to Cloud's slip up, just continued to lightly question him about his desire to be in SOLDIER. He was still very much desirous of becoming one. But from the way he spoke, it had become a forlorn dream in the face of his failure. But what gave her pause was that he seemed to believe he couldn't still become strong, and more capable of defending himself without being a SOLDIER.

"You have to be a SOLDIER to be strong? They are not mutually exclusive. It is very much possible to have one and not the other." She stated, arching an eyebrow. Was this truly the way he felt, or was that his non-existent self esteem speaking, crying for someone to hear him.

"There is more to being strong than weapons and Mako." Cloud looked at her, and she saw from the look on his face that the thought hadn't even occurred to him before. She gave him a warm smile.

"I don't think you'd make a good SOLDIER, Cloud. Even when you were half dead, and I told you to stay down, your immediate reaction to my being threatened was to get up and protect me. Even though you knew you wouldn't have any real chance against them. You're not cut out to be a SOlDIER, or a military man of any kind. You just wouldn't be able to follow orders if they went against your values." Before his expression could fall though, she place a hand on his shoulder. "But with a spirit like that, with your drive to do what you feel is right, you'd make an incredible hero."

She may as well have turned him to stone from the way he stared into space, trying to comprehend what she had just said to him. Rill waited patiently, feeling the Planet sing with delight at her choice of words. No choice she made was ever perfect, or ideal. But this had been...good. She had done well.

 _Very well._ Aeris whispered, her fondness for the boy that she had never meet swelling through their connection.

Cloud had to swallow a lump in his throat several times, and his eyes were overbright as he dipped his head towards her.

"Th-Thank you ma'am..." He knew she had paid him a compliment, a very high one at that. But he still didn't quite understand what she meant by it. SOLDIERs were cut out to be heros, and becoming a hero without being a SOLDIER just seemed...wrong. He wasn't able to do anything! He was short and scrawny, he was clumsy in spite of his conspicuous lack of growth. He wasn't a hero...That was what he wanted to be. That wasn't who he was now.

"Call me Rill." She pulled her PHS out of her pocket. "Do you have one of these?" He nodded and shakily brought it out. But as he flicked it open, he was dismayed to find that the screen was cracked and the device itself was useless.

"Oh Goddess..." he muttered. "They send orders through this..." She examined it, then nodded.

"I can get you a new one." He jerked his head up, making it spin dizzily at the abrupt action. He was really very hungry...

"Ma'am- Ah...Miss Rill, you don't have to-"

"Nonsense." She replied diffidently. "It's no trouble, Cloud. I'll make sure you have one before tonight."

"I'm on duty tonight..." He mumbled.

"Not after two healing sessions like what I've given you. Come on, odds are, I know your sergeant. We'll get some food inside you, and a few days off to recover. No one walks away from a beating like that fresh as a daisy." She'd get Cloud settled, speak to the sergeant and then go listen to the other women gossip. They were sure to be talking if any one of them had been approached by a handsy, too forward SOLDIER, especially one of the newly promoted ones. It was a rather common trait from Mako shots for inhibitions to be lowered significantly, thus they often did and said things they would never dare otherwise...

* * *

Sephiroth noticed the form Rill was working on for ordering a new PHS.

"Is something wrong with yours?" He asked, pausing on his way to get a fresh cup of tea. She looked up at him with a slightly out of character smile.

"A friend of mine recently had theirs broken due to SOLDIER action." She didn't say more than that. It was a persistent trait of hers to let him draw his own conclusions. Sephiroth merely assumed that some antic or mishap of Zack's had been the cause.

When Angeal came in and reported that he was immediately discharging two of the new 3rd Classes and heavily disciplining another two, Sephiroth was slightly concerned by the look of fury on the usually tranquil man's face.

"Four new 3rd Classes skipped my orientation to celebrate their promotion." Something that happened rather frequently. "They had managed to smuggle some alcohol into their barracks, right after getting their first shots." Sephiroth grimaced. It happened too frequently. There was always something or someone broken as a result...

"SOLDIER or property?" He asked heavily, knowing either one would result in a deduction from the budget.

"An unenhanced infantryman, and two women." The Silver General's eyes narrowed to cat like slits and anger began to boil inside him.

"Injuries?"

"Why don't you ask your secretary?" Angeal said dryly. "I found three of the four ready to assault her for telling them off and defending the infantryman. They'd already almost killed him for speaking out about their harassing another woman." Sephiroth's glare could have bored a hole through stone as he turned his glare onto his secretary who didn't seem to have any real self preservation instinct when it came to SOLDIER. When he got through with her...!

Angeal's hand gripped his shoulder.

"She had a Fire materia glowing so hot she registered as a hazard on the infrared cameras, which got me sent down there. Don't go scolding her for doing something good, Sephiroth. They'd have killed the kid if she hadn't come along."

After Angeal had left and Sephiroth had composed himself enough to not shout at Rill for foolhardiness, something she certainly didn't deserve, he rose to speak to her.

She had perfected the ability to tune out everything around her and focus solely on her work with an enviable amount of concentration. When she was in the zone, he could have spoken to her for several minutes before she roused enough to respond to him.

He sat back in his chair, plucking a Sense materia from his collection and slotting it in his bangle.

With it in place and as he focused, he could pick out more and more relevant details about Rill.

She had expended a lot of magical energy recently, though she was recovering from the use already. Her posture was the same as it always was, but there was an undertone of adrenaline and weariness. A few strands of hair had fallen out of her usually tidy bun and it made her look much younger. _How old was she anyway?_ The Turks had processed her application, but they weren't being helpful about getting her information when he had asked.

But what he really noticed was the careful, almost gingerly way she moved her right arm. _She wasn't wearing that blouse this morning..._ Suspicious, Sephiroth rose and moved over towards her on silent feet, pouring more energy into the Sense materia.

A detail he had previously not seen seemed to jump out at him as he stood just behind her.

There was something underneath her right sleeve, on her upper arm...

He took her elbow and tried to roll up the sleeve, but it was too narrow.

"Sir, is something wrong?"

"Take your shirt off." The moment the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. Her head whipped up to meet his gaze with the closest thing he had ever seen to dumbfounded shock on her face. She was also blushing, which made her look even younger. He mentally adjusted his estimate of her age from mid twenties to early twenties.

"I-...I beg your pardon, sir?" She sounded incredulous and rightly so. He had not meant it to come out like that.

He touched the bulky area around her upper arm and caught her wince.

"You've managed to injure yourself and haven't recovered enough to heal it yourself. I need to see it so I don't over do it.." She made to tug his arm out of his grasp, but he didn't let go.

"I'll heal it tomorrow, sir. I'm almost finished."

"That was an order, Rill." He was allowed to do that. Rill was part of the SOLDIER division administration, and he was the top of the chain of command, and on top of that she was beholden directly to him as his secretary.

He had never given her an outright order before. He had never needed to. But he was still surprised when she undid the buttons on the cuffs of her sleeve and permitted him to roll it up to expose the loose bandage wrapped slightly above her elbow.

Sephiroth leaned against her desk as he carefully unravelled the linen wrap. Depending on the severity of the injury, there could easily be some of her skin sticking to it that would tear if he moved too quickly.

The was a large patch of her skin that had blistered badly and a lighter first degree burn around it. She had gotten the blisters lanced, cream applied and gotten it wrapped, so it wasn't as bad as it would have been earlier. It would still be painful to put up with, but the presence of a Restore in the same bangle would have kept it from becoming worse. Still, it must have been agony to hold a materia at that level of heat long enough for someone to notice and report it. It was a wonder she wasn't worse off.

He carefully cast Restore, watching the redness fade and her skin tighten where fluid had distended it. He was powerful enough to erase all trace of her ever having been injured.

"Next time, just call me." He told her, surprised at what he was saying. "You're a miracle at handling even the worst cases, but you can't handle all the drunk or high idiot's through sheer force of personality all the time."

"I suppose not as I am now." She replied thoughtfully.

Sephiroth two things later that evening.

First: Rill hadn't obeyed his explicit order. He had said, word for word, for her to take off her shirt. She had instead rolled up her sleeve. Since it had accomplished his desire at the same time, he hadn't thought much else of it.

But in relation to her final comment.

 _I suppose not as I am now._ She hadn't agreed with him, not completely...she had simply implied the words: _'Not yet'_ in response to his statement.

There was apparently a much deeper rebellious streak in Rill than he had thought. And she was once again much more subtle than he had anticipated.

* * *

Rill honestly wondered if there was something different about her appearance today. She had come into work as usual and begun to set up for the day's work while Sephiroth suffered through a morning meeting. Then Genesis had entered, under pretense of looking for Sephiroth. She had informed him that he was in a meeting for several hours. But he had stuck around instead to wait for him.

And he wouldn't stop looking at her.

"Can I help you, sir?" She asked politely only to be on the receiving end of a very nice smile.

"Just wondering how I missed you before."

"I haven't been working in Shinra for very long. I believe I was hired while you were on your last assignment." She laid the papers in order on Sephiroth's desk, throwing a quick glance to the water kettle to check that it would be ready for when her boss returned, and wanted more caffeine.

"You must be quite talented to have risen so quickly. You've only been here for what, two months?"

"Just about, sir." Rill went over to her desk and sorted through her paper files, looking through what information would have to be input or updated today. _Altered training schedules for promising recruits. Reservations for the Virtual Reality simulation rooms. The daily Zack-Watch to buffer any more unpleasant surprises. The Otter Incident is not something that I want repeated._

She was suddenly aware that Genesis had crossed the room over to her desk and was watching her work. Slightly disconcerting, but tolerable.

"Where are you from?"

"Out in the direction of Kalm, originally. A small town called Greenview. I moved here when I was a little girl." When her father had died the only family she had left was a distant kinship with Aeris. Rill had managed, with the Planet's guidance, to make her way to Midgar and find Elmyra and Aeris.

"I've heard of it, quite a lovely place. Not nearly as beautiful as you though."

He was getting persistent over the course of a week or so, whenever she was relatively secluded, Genesis would seek her out. Rill was starting to get uncomfortable with the attention. It was drawing even more notice to her than her first stunt all those weeks ago in curbing Scarlett's reign of destruction.

"Sir, I am flattered by your compliments, but you are starting to unnerve me. I am not interested. Please direct your attention elsewhere."

She thought this was quite politely said, but for some reason, this seemed to anger the man, though he had better control than to say so outright.

"If that is what you want, Miss Thomas." Why did that sound like a declaration of war coming from him? Was it that unusual for him to be rejected?

* * *

Rill looked at Tseng strangely as he pointedly ignored the ringing phone on his desk.

"Is there a reason you are letting it go to voicemail?" She asked, arching an eyebrow in a look most of the company knew meant she was...not entirely on board with this situation.

"A very good one."

"Will you tell me or must I find out myself?" At his gesture towards the phone, Rill reached over and pressed the button to answer on speaker.

" _Hey Tseng! You actually picked up! Did you know Sephiroth has a pit trap in his office?"_ She tilted her head as Reno's voice drifted out of the speaker, giving Tseng a sympathetic look. The head Turk was slowly massaging his temples, brow twitching dangerously and eyeing the gun lying on his desk. She put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from shooting the machine.

"I was unaware actually. Though it does explain the construction requisitions and his relocating our work area to another floor." Her voice was more mild than milk, but it still made Reno stifle a girlish yelp of sheer terror.

" _Wh-What are you doing in the Turk office!? Tseng?! Anybody! This was a set up! Someone get me out before she kills me-!"_ Rill calmly disconnected the call, resisting the urge to massage her ears. Reno's voice was capable of a truly earsplitting pitch when he was terrified.

"I'll go and get him out." She informed him, taking a small package of cookies out of her bag and placing them before the Wutian Turk. "His mindless fear is rather annoying. I'll have to do something about that..."

"Why?" Tseng groaned, holding his head in his hands. "If you remove his fear of you, I'll have lost my best motivator for his good behavior!" Rill flicked him in the forehead admonishingly.

"I don't appreciate being turned into a boogieman, Tseng." She said sternly. "It's much harder to get competent, sincere effort out of individuals if they are irrationally afraid of me!"

Even getting a gibbering Reno out of the pit trap didn't help her ease his fear of her. She attributed his intense reaction to her slum persona to both her rage, and the state of his intoxicated mind. Rill was determined though. She would befriend Reno.

Even after the piranha incident, (she would throttle whoever let Zack near that sea food supplier), the cactuar hunt in the building, (A very 'fun' variation of a snipe hunt that turned out to be all too real) and assisting in drawing up a new budget for the Turk's chopper, Reno would not voluntarily come within ten feet of her. It was beginning to be a real nuisance, since he and Zack had steadily become closer and closer friends, meaning that Nerilka was often and unavoidably in Reno's presence.

In the end, it was once again her cooking that stopped his insistence that she was out to get him.

"It makes no sense!" She complained to Elmyra. "Of all the ridiculous things I did and tried to help him with, all it took was one damn cookie and he's suddenly singing my praises!" The older woman who thought of the young worker as a second daughter sighed as she rubbed her back consolingly.

"I told you, dear, the way to any man's heart is through his stomach." Rill buried her face in her arms.

"Then men are stupid." She said, her voice slightly muffled. "If I was really out to kill him, poisoned food would have been the first thing I tried..." Elmyra's eyes widened slightly at the disgruntled, almost matter of fact mutter and held in a sigh.

She knew that Rill had partly applied for work with Shinra was to try and keep tabs on their knowledge of Aeris. She was in just as much danger if anyone in the Science Department ever suspected that she was related to her daughter through her biological mother instead of Elmyra. She hadn't expected Rill to become so...invested in the people she had befriended in the company.

* * *

 _Correction. Reno doesn't yet consider me a friend. Just a supplier._ Rill thought dryly as the irrepressible Turk tried in vain to sneak some cookies from the container she had given to Sephiroth. Since it went without saying he was risking his life by crossing the general, her employer didn't utter a peep in her direction to control him beyond admonishing her not to feed strays.

Her PHS buzzed with a text and Rill scanned it quickly, pausing in her write up of the endless reports on the the improvement, or lack thereof, in the recently promoted ranks. Usually after being put on the SOLDIER roll, a recruit experienced a few months of drought in progression in their adaptation to the Mako enhancements and skill. Only a handful of the few hundred recruits had managed to power through it, marking themselves as the future 2nd Class.

 _I cannot believe the amount of filtering that the various troops go through..._ Rill mused.

Shinra had a standing army of seven thousand. About two thousand of that number were SOLDIER, the rest were infantry. About three quarters of the entire SOLIDER program were 3rd Class, fifteen hundred enhanced humans capable of fighting and holding positions ten coordinated infantry couldn't manage. Of the remaining five hundred, or so, all but seventeen were 2nd Class.

 _1,532 3rd Class, 478 2nd Class, 17 1st Class. 2,027 men with the liquified memories and souls of my direct ancestors inside them in varying degrees of potency._ According to a few whispers Rill sometimes heard, the Cetra had possessed a tradition for a select handful of individuals to receive infusions of the Lifestream. They then acted as their guardians and messengers, warriors and defenders if the need arose, but peacekeepers and advisors for the most part. They were the emissaries to the Planet that had sheltered them in their flight from the Enemy and held her at bay for thousands of years.

Shinra bastardizing the personal, very sacred ritual left a sour taste in her mouth as the Planet sadly whispered about her last guardians, killed about five hundred years ago.

She was brought out of her thoughts by an email that made her mouth twist downward briefly.

A publicity stunt. A state dinner to be precise. One that the President wanted Sephiroth to be involved in...She had already gotten him out of the last two. But this one would take some doing... Her back prickled as she heard the almost silent sound of metal cutting air.

"Sir?" She called back. "Tseng did want Reno back in semi-whole condition."

"What was his definition?" He called back. Rill turned in her office chair to see Sephiroth carefully lowering Masamune from Reno's throat. Reno was clutching a handful of sugary treats and eyeing the general and the distance to the door with a street rat's calculation.

"Nothing requiring more than a single application of Cure 2 to heal." She reported blandly. Reno's face fell.

"Riiiilll! I thought we had something special!" It took an inordinate amount of control to not let a devilish grin form on her face. She kept her expression polite and friendly.

"We do. In the very likely scenario of your injury, I will be in charge of healing you as well as disciplining you thereafter." The Turk blinked...

"Disciplining?" Rill reached into onto of her desk drawers and produced a hot pink squirt bottle in answer to his question. "With that thing, yo!?"

"At first." She said pleasantly. She didn't add that if it didn't suffice, she wasn't going to hesitate to progress to other measures.

Reno swallowed audibly, taking another step back. Sephiroth's sword flashed dangerously.

"Put. The cookies. Down." He said flatly. Rill rose, pulling something from her desk and approached the angry general without the slightest bit of fear.

"Sir, no maiming." She reminded, placing another parcel down. "Could you sample this recipe for me? It's a new one Zack's mother recommended." He looked down, almost comically surprised. Then his eyes lit with interest at the sight of the soft, fluffy pastry with their tempting, fruity aroma.

"What are these?" He asked, lowering his sword to pick up and inspect one of the delights.

"Pineapple." One of his soft spots was fruit based dessert. It was one of the areas of cooking that he favored as they were rarely too sweet. Rill had learned that while chocolate chip cookies were never turned away, he prefered bitter-sweet chocolate to any other and enjoyed them more if she cut back on the sugar. Though that might be because then Zack wouldn't end up with a sugar rush.

With Sephiroth's attention diverted, Rill motioned Reno out the door before his escape was noticed, shooting him a wink as comprehension dawned on the Turks face.

* * *

Reno's prizes were forgotten, but not disregarded as he munched them on the way back to the Turk floor.

He was less terrified of Rill now. She still had a legendary temper in his mind due to his unfortunate run in with her strange doppelganger, but now he contemplated a new thought:

She was sneaky, devious and underhanded in all the ways that they, the Turks, valued. And she knew Tseng well. So why hadn't Tseng tried to hire her?

He wasn't expecting Tseng to crack a smile when he asked.

"I do. Every week. As I'm sure you've noticed, the general doesn't share well." His pointed glance at the crumbs on Reno's jacket spoke volumes. "Fortunately, Miss Thomas has no inclination whatsoever to be transferred. Otherwise, there would be an intercompany war over which department she works in next."


	5. Why Poker is banned

_Oh, damn..._ Rill thought with an internal groan as the elevator doors opened to admit Genesis Rhapsodos. Ever since she had asked him to leave her alone some weeks ago, he had become increasing cool with her, to the point of derision. Her first instinct about that parting shot on the last day of their neutrality had been accurate. He jibed, poked, prodded and assaulted every angle of her defenses, pushing the limits of her self control. While he was one of Sephiroth's few friends, she just couldn't be comfortable with the guy who not only managed to simultaneously have a superiority and an inferiority complex, but to subvert them both so completely that he wasn't aware he had them. And the Planet was humming around him...

There were several people that the Planet reacted to when she was nearby.

Cloud had been the first one she actively noticed since she had been drawn to him. Then she realized Sephiroth had a similar frequency, as well as Zack. Aeris had her own voice in the Planet, it wasn't like the others. But she was...humming the same thing. It was all rather disconcerting.

"Oh, Sephiroth's...secretary." The pause was heavy with implication. Over the last few days he had begun to insinuate that Rill was trying to get into her boss's pants. _He's good looking. But I have seen too much of his nonsense to be a hopeless fangirl._

"Good afternoon, Commander." She responded neutrally. She could feel his critical gaze and mentally steeled herself, as well as tightened her hold on her magical control. She had a Ice slotted today, and the thought of forming something cold and uncomfortable inside the flamboyant diva's clothing was more tempting than it should be. She almost wished he was flirting with her again. That would have been easier to handle than this slowly increasing hostility.

"I don't understand what he sees in you." _Open ended comment. Do not react._ "Pretty much any woman in the company looks better than you." _This is the same man that I hear the other women swoon over? I saw it for that one week. That's about it._

"A cross I must bear." She replied demurely, a polite smile on her face. She was trying to telepathically tell him she didn't give a damn without breaking character. It wasn't going well.

"So why do you try?" _'Why keep trying for Sephiroth.' Geez, how fixated can you get?_ She kept her expression in same politely neutral look.

"I'm afraid I don't understand, sir." _Give him a weakness, he'll focus on that, and we won't have to speak again for the rest of the week._

"Obviously." Genesis said, lip curling. "I don't know how you manage to feign competence in your work enough to keep Sephiroth's attention." _I expected this from other women who were jealous. Not from Sephiroth's friends who are idiots...Correction: Not from Sephiroth's one idiot friend._

"Is there a difference between successful falsehood and reality?" She asked archly. "So long as the work is completed, done well, on time and consistent, I see no difference." She caught a flicker of anger at on his face at her words.

" _Dreams of the morrow hath shattered the soul._ " Genesis remarked as the doors opened. He swept off down the hall, leaving her behind easily.

What had set him off?

Rill typed a quick message to Sephiroth.

' _Incoming angry diva. Don't know what I said to irritate him.'_ She had barely sent the message before she got a reply.

' _Go up to Urban Development with the files for the rotation for the 3rd's assistance in the building projects. I'll try to get rid of him.'_ Warning bells flickered in Rill's mind. Getting rid of Genesis was not a good idea. If she became the source of a rift between the general and his friend, bad things would happen. She was being told that explicitly and with nothing held back.

She had to do something...But what the Planet was telling her to do was going to push the limits of her control, temper and strength beyond anything she had done before.

Befriending Reno was a walk in the park compared to what it would take to endear her to the finicky commander.

' _Talk to your friend, sir.'_ She didn't need to add more than that. She just needed a little bit of a planning session...

 _Thank goodness Auntie had a thing for Loveless a few years back._ She would need all of what she could remember of watching the actors, hearing the play again and again, and how they managed to convey different meanings with how they projected, pronounced and twisted the words they spoke. Genesis wasn't like Angeal, she wasn't facing down an enemy that could easily kill her but who would be turned aside by standing her ground.

This wouldn't be a single strike and a clean kill. This was going to be messy, long and exhausting.

* * *

Just because Rill had decided that she would have to confront Genesis about his constantly derogatory remarks didn't mean she planned to do so outright. All she had to do was wait for the opportunity to present itself. The commander was a confrontational enough person in his own right to make up for her lack of enthusiasm.

It was a comment here and there in passing around the SOLDIER offices. About the quality of her work, her appearance, her attitude, nothing was safe from his barbed words. Rill shrugged these off without blinking. This got progressively more and more open over the course of a week before Genesis made the mistake of saying something like this in front of Tseng.

The Wutian native's expression showed no emotion, but his eyes were like chips of flint as he glowered at the 1st Class SOLDIER. Of course, Tseng's version of a glower after his years in the Turks was more akin to a polite, if unnerving stare.

"Would you care for something to...change in your working conditions?" Tseng asked carefully. It was after all his department's cover job to ensure everyone had a safe, productive and uplifting work environment. Rill's blank face softened into a fond smile for the man.

"I appreciate the offer, Tseng. But that won't be necessary."

She distantly hoped Genesis would get his head of out his rectal cavity and yell at her before he alienated the rest of the company. Just to air what his problem with her was would give her a place to start in trying to fix whatever issue there was. Thus far, only the lower ranked penpushers, a few infantry and the Turks knew about this unspoken war between them. Most of the clerical staff were too afraid to speak out. The infantry were in a similar situation as Genesis was technically their commanding officer. The Turks wouldn't say anything...but she had noticed that there was usually one of them within speaking distance lately and they never took their eyes off the pair of them.

Aeris was making a habit of spending some time every day talking to her for the express purpose of bouncing ideas off of in regards to when, where and how Genesis would finally crack.

 _I think it will be you who cracks first, Rill._ Aeris said, a certainty in her voice that Rill recognized. _He will do something that will be too much and you are going to snap and try to break his neck._ She was irritated that he could do something that would push her that far, but...

 _I don't suppose you'll say how I snap his neck, will you?_

 _Rill, homicide is still illegal._

 _The person needing to die is a justifiable defense!_

 _It hasn't been for the last ten years._

Rill absently smacked Reno's hand as he reached for her biscuit.

"Reno, that's my lunch. You already have your own." She had a moment's epiphany then as the Planet murmured something to her. "Zack, you're not nearly as sneaky as you think you are." How she ended up eating lunch with these two studies in poor impulse control was a bit of a story she hadn't been able to follow.

The SOLDIER withdrew his hand from attempting to swipe the container of dessert she had brought along. She had mentioned that she was trying something new. This had resulted in no less than five previous tries to sneak a taste while she wasn't paying attention.

"Seriously!?" Reno gaped. "How did you know!? I made sure he was in your blind spot and everything!" Rill gave a small smile.

"I didn't see him, Reno. As you intended, I was physically incapable of doing so. I surmised he was up to something he shouldn't be doing from the fact that I also couldn't hear him." She enjoyed the moaning from the two unlikely friends as she calmly finished her lunch, drawing out the moment until she revealed her latest creation in the kitchen. She would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy getting compliments from various people in her association in regards to her cooking.

The redheaded Turk was becoming more and more comfortable around her, though she wouldn't call them friends just yet. He admired her rather openly, or her skills rather. He often expressed surprise that she wasn't a Turk.

"Not for lack of trying on Tseng's part." She said crisply. "His offers have begun to crowd my inbox."

"Hey! She's with SOLDIER! Stop trying to steal our secretary!" Zack came to her defense like a loyal family dog, causing Rill to smother a laugh.

"She's not your secretary, yo! She's Sephiroths! And he's being a greedy ass by not sharing!"

This was clearly on the verge of devolving into an amusing argument that would likely span several days. Then Rill saw the door open out of the corner of her eye and groaned internally.

 _Genesis._

She opened the tin of caramel-filled brownies and the tempting aroma wafted into the air. The bickering fools whirled on her, their argument forgotten. Zack was outright drooling at the smell.

"What is that...?"

"Rill, my beautiful darling. Have I ever mentioned just how wonderful you-" She flicked Reno in the forehead.

"Don't start, Reno. I was there when you gave that same song and dance number to Felicia." Reno paused for a split second, face paling for a moment.

"Ah...you heard that, yo?"

"I wouldn't feel to bad about it, Turk." Genesis drawled, sweeping into the room. "She is usually easy to miss, thankfully." Zack looked up at him in surprise.

"Genesis? Aren't you supposed to be in that bigwig meeting with Sephiroth and 'Geal?" Zack's question was ignored as the Crimson Commander approached, eyeing the container in her hands as if it were a piece of roadkill.

"As if you weren't already enough of a nuisance. Bribery is your current route?"

"Good morning Commander." She said as pleasantly as she could. "Is the meeting already over?" She was ignored as well as Genesis peered at the brownies in her lap.

"Isn't even something worth bribing with, now is it?" This prompted her companions into speaking.

"If Rill is gonna bribe someone with these, then she could buy the whole company!" Zack swore cheerfully, stuffing another of the confections into his mouth. "Anything Rill makes tastes amazing!"

"I shall be the judge of that." The young Cetra could tell that Genesis was meaning to stir up trouble somehow since her supposed victims had cheerfully admitted that his accusation could be perfectly valid and accurate and she hadn't reacted at all.

She watched as Genesis consumed the rich, sticky pastry.

He chewed, froze for a tiny instant, then looked away. Rill could see that he liked it.

"You think that tastes good?" He asked Zack, disapproval in his voice. "It tastes like she used chocobo droppings to flavor it." He gave her a disdainful look as he said this. Rill bit her tongue to keep her desired retort from slipping out...

 _Oh, so you did get the right piece then._

 _Calm, Rill._ Aeris cautioned, but she was a little annoyed at the arrogant asshole herself. Rill worked hard on anything she gave to her friends at work and substandard treats were not to be endured.

Genesis was all but saying that she was a piece of crap.

But Rill's irritation was nothing compared to the unholy fury that lit in Reno's face.

He stood about eye to eye with the commander as he rose, his lean frame tense and ready for instant movement.

"That is a lie, Genesis, and you know it." He said, sounding every bit the Turk, the professional hitman that he was. His light blue eyes were snapping with energy and there was a certain tactile gleam to them that said to Rill that he was contemplating the best possible way to make the offending SOLDIER feel pain.

 _He got it._ Rill noted that Zack, while he looked indignant on Rill's behalf, wasn't nearly as ready to go head to head with Genesis.

"Hey man, chill." His hand was smacked aside lightly by Reno.

"No, I won't chill Zack. You might not have caught on, but your commanding officer has essentially just called Rill a piece of #$% to her face. And that just ain't cool, yo." Contrary to his usual cocky, laid back tone, Reno's voice was now disturbingly bland. But Rill could sense he was all but simmering with suppressed fury.

Zack was up beside his friend in a flash, making Rill have the brief mental image of a dog raising it's hackles and snarling like a devil.

Seeing their backs towards her, standing between her and her...current enemy like a wall...It was a bit...much.

 _I...did not expect that._ Rill thought, watching the two argue in her defense.

She spent most of her time babysitting and cleaning up after them. She was certain Zack considered her a friend, but Reno? She hadn't thought Reno would have had that kind of reaction in the face of Genesis's insult.

 _It's always a nice feeling to have friends._ Aeris agreed with a hint of wistful envy. Her being known as a Cetra and her subsequent guard rotations from the Turk offices made it difficult to get to know anyone. Combined with her more potent aura, many people loved her, but next to no one actually knew her.

* * *

Rill ended up being swept off to the Turk offices for the rest of the day and only remembered to inform Sephiroth about her abduction when he sent her a rather concerned message.

' _Genesis came in here looking like he got a Mako shot and Zack is all but growling at him. What happened?'_ She reluctantly gave him the story in as unbiased and concise a fashion as she could. He didn't answer for a bit and she was starting to get worried when a strange number sent her a message.

' _He was so mad he broke his PHS. (This is Angeal) I predict you will have a very protective and angry boss to deal with for the next few days.'_ Rill sighed, saving the other 1st Class number. The first blows had been struck, but she had been hoping to keep it between the two of them instead of getting others involved...

 _You can't handle everything._ Aeris chided. _You're capable, Rill, but you're not omnipotent and you can't befriend everybody. Especially people who don't want friends._

 _I'm not trying to befriend him, Aeris._ She thought with a sigh. _I just don't want to cause tension between Sephiroth and his friends when he has so few of them. Just earning a measure of respect is all I want, then we can go back to ignoring each other._

 _Ah, no, you can't. That would just create another ticking time bomb that someone else would have to deal with. You can see it as clearly as I feel it through you. Genesis is insanely jealous of anything Sephiroth has. At the moment, he has you._ Rill didn't need to make her offense at her cousin's insinuation plain.

 _Aeris, don't you start that nonsense._

 _Romantic or not, the point still stands._ The other girl's mental voice was calm, a little sad and certain. _All of the 1st Class have just about everything. Status, skill, admirers, wealth. But you know as well as I do when the day is done, that Sephiroth is the top dog in this city. Anyone else can play second fiddle at best and that is not what Genesis wants._

Rill tapped her fingers on her desk, thinking fiercely.

 _So you're saying this problem has no solution. Genesis would only be even worse if Sephiroth held back, he'd think he was pitying him. Genesis clearly isn't Sephiroth's equal in skill, he comes closer than just about anyone else, but..._

 _But close isn't good enough for him._ Aeris agreed. _You did get a doozy of a problem from the Planet, that's for certain!_ The secretary scowled.

 _You know saying that while sounding so happy doesn't exactly convey familial support._

 _Rill, you're living, you're having fun, and you might even get a boyfriend while working there! Let me have my fun!_

 _You're living vicariously through me!_

 _Exactly!_

Rill snorted, pulling off her glasses to rub her eyes gently to rid herself of the gritty feeling that came with a lack of sleep.

In her mind, even without her warning vision all those years ago, there were only a handful of people she'd consider, and she worked too closely with them to make anything beyond friendship possible.

 _So there are some you'd consider?_ She let out a small growl of irritation.

 _Don't you need to weed the garden or something?_

 _Come on! Tell your cousin aaaaaall about it...~!_

 _Aeris. Good-bye._

* * *

Genesis was approaching a point that no one else had ever been able to reach. He was trying Nerilka's patience. When she hadn't reacted to his accusations of being interested in Sephiroth, he had gradually alluded to more and more. He sometimes went so far that even Rufus, who could probably win an award for being lewd if he chose, called him to order with anger in his voice.

 _He called her a slut._

 _Rill went back to the slums and ranted in the kind ear of a Honeybee who could sympathize with the idiocy of men._

" _He doesn't know what he's talkin' about darlin."_

" _That's what bothering me!"_

 _He called her a gold digger._

 _She went back to the slums where people with less than a handful of gil to their name made a living and greeted her as one of their own. Where she dug in the dirt with her cousin with a bigger smile on her face than was ever seen at Shinra._

 _He called her a bitch._

 _Rill let one heartbroken secretary cry on her shoulder after having been dropped by the commander himself._

Rill was getting to the point where she was having rather vivid fantasies of causing Genesis some sort of irreparable harm, if only to give him some reason for his irrational hatred of her.

Rill managed to get in a few more days of peaceful work before her odd intuition began to sing with mischief. _What could it be? It's a Friday, but not casual Friday, there's no real chance of Zack coming into work naked, in a dress, or in Costan shirt and speedo. No platoons are due for shots, Reno has learned his lessons about trying to steal food while Sephiroth is in the office...What?_

Her PHS rang and she hesitated before picking it up. _What could Cloud want?_

"Cloud, what's wrong?"

* * *

Sephiroth sensed it in the air the moment he exited the elevator to go to the board room.

Something was very wrong.

"What is going on here?" He asked, bewildered as several high executives appeared to be playing a game of poker. Or they had been. He stopped and stared in curious mixture of absolute shock and vindictive amusement. Rill was towering over Heidegger, her small stature irrelevant in the face of her fury. The infantry she had taken a liking too was inching towards the door with a wary look on his face. Sephiroth caught his shoulder before he could slip out.

"What happened?" The boy, no way this kid was older than sixteen, kept his eyes on Rill.

"They were playing a game of poker and Heidegger was losing, so to keep playing, he bet me." The kid shivered. "Madame Scarlett looked... happy."

"Who won?" Sephiroth asked, his curiosity outweighing the indignity of a boy like this being used as betting ballast.

"The vice president. I think Miss Rill is going to talk to him...after she's done." Heidegger was cowering outright now. Rufus was watching with an almost indecent delight as the slip of a woman berated the pompous idiot with precise, cutting words. In spite of Scarlet's dislike for her, even she seemed to be enjoying the display. Sephiroth let out a slow breath, clapping the younger man on the shoulder.

"Better get clear before she does. Head back to your barracks, Private."

* * *

He looked at Rufus, the offer he had made was a good one but he found himself unwilling to agree to it...

"What did you say?" The blond man, no...boy. That look couldn't be identified as anything except a boy's smug smirk.

"Miss Nerilka will be working for me now."

"Not permanently." Rill herself said with a subtle bite to her voice. Her words and her tone were all that kept Sephiroth from being even more angry than he already was. "Heidegger's bet was to offer Private Strife as a personal slave for a week. I will be taking his place until this heinous flaw can be worked out of the system." Sephiroth was surprised frost wasn't spreading from the furious woman's feet and felt a strange sense of...pride at her behavior.

 _What?_

"As I have been informed that there is no actual way of releasing the Private from the conditions of the game, I have offered my working directly with the Vice President on condition that Private Strife be left alone and the enrollment forms will be altered to prevent this from happening again." There was a subtle bite to Rill's words that made the General go cold.

 _She's...leaving?_

Rill was insinuating that signing up as an infantryman for Shinra meant signing away your personal rights. And considering what had transpired here, it might not be completely false.

 _She can't leave! I need her!_

And there was something rather wrong with his priorities if he was fretting about not having his secretary, a professional one with whom he wasn't even close friends with, work directly with him when it had just come to light just how much Heidegger was willing to abuse his position.

 _She is mine! Of course it's right to be irritated that she just signed herself away._

Rufus continued to smile like the cat who ate the canary as he addressed Rill with triumphant good cheer.

"I expect you to be up in my office on Monday, Miss Thomas. It was a pleasure bargaining with you." Rill nodded once, a perfectly bland smile on her face.

"One week, sir. No more."

 _Just a week?_ Instantly some small part of Sephiroth felt very foolish for his mind running away with him. It wasn't a permanent arrangement. She'd be back, he was certain of that.

 _If she isn't, I'll go get her myself._

He might be in trouble here. He had no idea what was happening with him. This level of possessiveness was not appropriate or warranted...

Sephiroth did have a meeting to attend, but considering that it had been a game of poker that he walked in on, he decided that whatever was being discussed here wasn't something he needed to give input towards. He followed his secretary back to their working space where she had resumed her usual activities as if nothing untoward had occurred.

* * *

Rill had expected Sephiroth to be...perturbed by her choice, but not angry. He didn't say anything, but he was very obviously mad about something. Given the situation, there was only one thing he could be so worked up about. She looked at him with a restrained sigh.

"It's only a week, sir. It's not as though the department needs me to survive."

"I'm seriously considering that I might." He snapped back, gloved hands in his hair as he paced restlessly, bringing to mind a tiger in a too small cage. His aura was leaking into the air and Rill could feel the hairs rise on the back of her neck as goosebumps shivered into existence.

 _Oh...That's why he's dangerous._ She had gotten used to him as a polite, dry witted, cookie fiend with limited social experience that she commiserated with over the chaos they had to deal with. That man wasn't here right now. She wasn't sure what she was seeing.

 _This may have to be done delicately._

"Rill, this place was a disaster! Most of the Third and Second Class only behave because you're here!" She exhaled, letting her own aura mingle with his, only instead of inducing tension and adrenaline, she focused on settling things down again. _Calm...Calm down Sephiroth...I didn't expect you to react like this._

"It's not as though they will have to strike or boycott to get me back. Just be patient for a week." Rill was being reasonable she figured. Part of her goal was to make the SOLDIER program as autonomous as possible with only truly pressing issues being brought to Sephiroth's attention. This was little more than a test to see if that was even possible. And it was also reworking a piece of life disregarding, debilitating bureaucracy, which was the important part of this maneuver.

She hadn't thought it would take this long to begin some measure of reform and it wasn't even close to getting her, Aeris and other Cetra out of danger. But upping the importance of human dignity and right to self was a step in the right direction.

"You're asking SOLDIER to be patient?" She lifted her head to look wonderingly at the famed general. He was scowling fiercely and seemed inordinately annoyed. Much more so than he should be...

 _Maybe...?_

"Sir, if the reason you're angry is because I didn't check with you first, I apologize. But I had to strike a deal before Rufus raised the stakes and had me working for him more permanently." Rufus was the Vice President, incredibly proficient in his chosen goal, but he was young. He didn't have much weight in the company and he knew it. Most likely, that was why he was using his father as a figurehead and pulling the strings himself.

He was ruthless, cunning and ambitious and Rill had proven herself to be efficient, intelligent and valuable. The VP was therefore pushing to have her working directly for him. He had a private force in the Turks, but he needed someone to handle day to day work with competence and someone who was popular enough to have sway outside the company structure and that's why he wanted her.

 _A businessman like Rufus wants two hands. The right to do the upright and honest work where everyone can see while his left is behind his back holding a gun._ The Turks were very obviously the left hand of the situation. She guessed he wanted her to be his right hand.

She hadn't quite realized, but working for Sephiroth in a job that had driven everyone else insane, and her managing and minimizing most of the madness that came with it, had made her rather well known and very well liked. Tseng's desire to protect and help Aeris was what had him offering her the job in the HR department, but that was hardly his only motive, nor was he the only one who wanted her services. In some ways, working for the Turks would actually be better for her original purpose in joining Shinra. There she would be surrounded by people she knew rather well and who could and would protect her in case the Science Department turned its sights on Aeris and tried to use Rill for leverage.

But she felt very strongly, and the Planet only reinforced this impression, that she was right where she should be. So this would have to be dealt with, and then she would be right back in the SOLDIER department. Regardless of attempts to get her out.

She heard Sephiroth let out a long exhale, and could feel the tension in the room lessen as he got a hold of himself, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand.

"You haven't done anything to apologize for, Rill. It was my mistake. You're fully in the right to choose where you work and for how long. I guess I've gotten somewhat reliant on not having to manage this madness alone." He straightened, regarding her with piercing a piercing gaze that seemed strangely vulnerable for an instant. Then the moment was gone and the Sephiroth she knew was back.

Rill didn't have to force herself to smile at him, adjusting her glasses as she turned back to her work. She did like him. He was a great soldier and a fearless leader. And for all that, he was still a good man at heart despite everything he had been put through throughout his life.

"I'll be back soon, sir. A week isn't that long." _Better stockpile some cookies for him, otherwise some people might end up with Masamune shaped holes in them while I'm gone._

She had only been working for about three minutes after this had been settled when Aeris's voice resonated through her head.

 _Ok, you were actually getting close to nervous. What happened up there?_

Rill explained it via running her mind through the events of the past half hour rather than try and use words to identify the bizarre reaction her boss had had to the notion of her working somewhere else.

 _That is a little extreme for just one week...You're sure he doesn't-?_ Rill rolled her eyes a little.

 _No Aeris, there are no romantic feelings between us._

 _But you do think he's attractive._ It wasn't a question. The Cetra secretary wished dearly she didn't have to keep on working as if she wasn't having an embarrassing conversation in her head. She couldn't react with...appropriate contempt to Aeris's hopelessly romantic mind.

 _I'm not blind, cousin. I know he is extremely attractive. Now drop the subject and focus more on why he almost had a breakdown when he thought I was leaving him._

 _Isn't it obvious?_

 _If it were, we wouldn't be having this conversation._ Rill surreptitiously checked to make sure Sephiroth wasn't watching her in the midst of her internal dialogue with Aeris. While there wasn't any way for someone to tell that she was speaking telepathically to someone, she knew that she did tend to have a thousand-yard stare going on if she got too into it.

 _Rill, all of the SOLDIERs have issues. And 1st Classes have far more than the rest because of the things they've seen, done and been subjected to. They all have their coping mechanisms. You've already seen that your friend the puppy tends to let himself vent the stress through pranks and occasional bouts of hallucination. Genesis has that play he's always quoting and focuses on trying to surpass Sephiroth to deal with it. Sephiroth may seem to be one of the more stable people in the system on the outside, but there's no telling what's going on on the inside._ Rill turned to her computer, beginning to arrange the following week's schedule in such a manner that would hopefully mean that she wouldn't be back at square one when she came back.

 _He's a cookie fiend and has a sadistic streak. You're saying he has some psychological issues?_ Aeris sighed through their link.

 _I think he might have some abandonment and control issues. You did say that he only has a few people he's actually close to in the company and he has next to no life outside of SOLDIER. When he thought you were going to work for Rufus, the Planet says he started to feel very panicked and angry. Not at you for leaving, but at Rufus for taking you away. You were being taken out of his sphere of influence and there wasn't anything he could do to change that._

This made...a margin of sense, Rill reasoned. It didn't explain how he had gotten so attached to her so quickly. She ignored Aeris's derisive, very unladylike snort in the back of her mind.


	6. Rufus the Magnificent Bastard

Monday

The day had come far too quickly. The word had spread like wildfire that she was going to work for Rufus. She couldn't count how many distressed SOLDIERs came up to her, asking for some truth, or untruth in this case.

"Yes, I am working for Rufus. But only for a week." She said evenly to a particularly young squad. "Rampaging and kicking up a fuss about it won't make it go by any faster. Just behave, and next week I'll be back and things will settle down again." She held in a sigh as one of them burst into tears and tried to hug her. She evaded him for the sake of maintaining her pressed and clean appearance. "Sam, have you been eating the cafeteria jello again?"

* * *

Her first morning of working with Rufus included some disbelief at what he had on his personal planner.

9:00: Take nap in office with phone muted and door locked.

10:00: Deliver Dark Nation to victim volunteer sitter. Have camera's ready to wire any amusing footage.

11:00 Target practice.

12:00: Appointment with Palmer for lunch. Tolerate yammer for aprox 15 min before leaving.

She then understood why Pres Shinra had little idea about just what his son was up to if this was what he reported for his daily activity.

Rill shook her head, a slow calculating smile spreading over her face.

Rufus had a myriad of other appointments that needed attending to. And as she was acting as his secretary...she would do her utmost to ensure her current boss's maximum efficiency in his lofty position~

* * *

At the end of the day, Rufus had attended all seven interviews and appointments he had been scheduled for, in spite of his efforts to derail Rill. Dark Nation, formerly an unholy terror feared by all infantry charged with his care, lay with his head in the woman's lap, whining softly for attention.

And Rufus still didn't quite know how she had done it.

"You are terrifying." He said to her admiringly as she finished compiling the notes from the end of the day meeting. She didn't change expression as she regarded him with polite interest.

"Excuse me sir, but what about me is even remotely threatening?" The blond VP leaned back in his chair and smirked.

"You'll do nicely." This woman was what he had been waiting for. The organized, rational, reasonable face of his policies. She had a way of phrasing her requests that made it seem ludicrous and churlish to refuse them, making it difficult to disagree with her. He already knew she handled the everyday madness but seeing it in action was a very different matter entirely. Polite, reasonable, calm, almost maternal in her absolute authority. _I. Need. This. Woman._ He thought emphatically, still chuckling.

"Need I remind you sir, that this is a temporary arrangement." She said calmly, rising and packing up for the day. "I would appreciate you not factoring me into your plans as any sort of significant pawn." As if she wasn't already someone he wanted on his side, she was also clever enough to realize what he was doing with the company. Good. That saved him time from needing to lead her to it. She laid down a file before him with that demure little smile that made her so easy to remember.

"Please be more careful with your contact information, sir. This is enough of a problem in the SOLDIER department without adding your scorned lovers to the roster." He glanced down at what she had given him.

It was a list of his approved shipments of supplies to the front in Wutai. Some of which he had compromised to AVALANCHE. He looked at her shrewdly for a moment. She held his gaze, and there was the steel behind the silk.

 _She knows._

"They say a woman's intuition about relationships is uncanny." _I see what you did there._ "I hope to have your advice on these matters in the future." _I want you on my side._ Her smile curved upward and he had the distinct impression that he was not going to be very pleased.

"I won't give advice where I don't have experience, or the desire to get it." _Not interested._

* * *

Dark Nation growled over his dinner as Rufus mused about the events of the day.

He had half expected Rill to catch on. But he was certain that she wouldn't be exposing him. Somehow, it wasn't beneficial to her agenda...That was a good thing in and of itself. But it left him wondering:

What purpose did Rill have working a pen pushing job when she obviously had the talent and brains for much more?

* * *

Tuesday

Rill found any number of amusing memos from Rufus's desk throughout the week that she continued to work with him. The majority of them involved a certain redhaired Turk's death in many creative ways.

She patiently added her own comments on his memos, sent electronically to her PHS, reminding him that Reno couldn't work if he was dead and there were several good reasons that he was kept on the company's payroll. But soon a sort of game was established. Rufus would send her a memo, usually a silly one, and she would play her part of a straight laced, calm secretary to perfection.

'Memo: Reno may be some sort of sentient fungus...'

'Sir, purchasing that amount of baking soda and rigging a pit trap outside your office is a cumbersome, costly and largely useless indulgence of your inebriated state.'

'Memo: Hojo smells funny.'

'Zack probably did it.'

'Memo: Where did all these cactuars come from?'

'The desert presumably. Ask the correct questions if you want answers.'

(After this, Rufus did call her in and ask her how the cactuars had gotten in the building.

"It involves a smuggling ring that the usual suspects think I don't know about in the basement, and the fact that Zack cannot seem to follow basic anti-pest protocol when in foreign territory."

"...Anything else I should be aware of?"

"Not that I know of, sir. I had the Marlboro sprout confiscated and relocated to its natural habitat and the ruby dragon never made it into the city."

"What kind of smuggling ring is this?!"

"Exotic pets.")

'Memo: Need more durable helicopter.'

'It's your signature on Reno's pilot licence. You have no one but yourself to blame.'

'Memo: Have all maps redrawn to exclude Gongaga.'

'Pretending Gongaga does not exist will not make Zack disappear, sir.'

* * *

Wednesday

Rill had new practice in keeping her expression neutral. _He's just doing this to get a reaction. Do not show anything, don't get mad, don't get disgusted, don't laugh and the for Goddess's sake, don't actually blush._

"I can tell you're a woman in business, Rill." She didn't look at the blond Vice President, knowing that he was smirking devilishly. "You're always positioned just right for me~"

"Didn't your memo say you were going to practice your pick up lines on Tseng, sir?"

"It feels better to say them to an actual woman." Rufus said dismissively. "How would you rate that one?"

"Just about everything that has come out of your mouth all morning has been tasteless. But only when it wasn't nauseating." _So glad he decided to do this right now instead of when any SOLDIER was around..._

"Excellent!"

* * *

Thursday

'Memo: For change of pace, only maim Reno.' She raised her brow for a moment before adding her reply to it.

'Sir, are you trying to get me to do the killing?' Granted, he was being rather grating. Reno seemed to take Rill's working for Rufus as a sign that she was finally going to transfer to the Turk department.

"Unlimited access to the best cookies in Midgar!" He said with a slightly deranged laugh. "Eat me, Sephiroth! I get dibs on the cookies now!" Rill declined the offered sedative from Tseng and approached Reno gracefully.

"Reno, no talking when your mouth is full." She said in a sweet, but uncompromising voice, directly behind him. He jumped and swallowed hard, hastily whipping around and hiding the half eaten cookie behind his back.

"Rill! I thought you were with the VP in the meeting...?" Her expression didn't change.

"He decided I would be more effective if I didn't attend. I'm glad to see you're enjoying the fruits of my labors." Reno was sweating and backing slowly away from the warm, sunny smile she was aiming at him.

* * *

Rufus was hopeful after hearing that Reno had fled the building with Rill following after him. But all he got was them coming back with a goofily grinning Zack slung between them.

"I'll admit, I had hoped you'd be coming back alone." He said to her, eyeing the SOLDIER. "What is wrong with him? He looks as though he went through a Marlboro's digestive tract backwards."

"Bungee jumping over the Mako vats below the Sector Three reactor with Grashtryke hunting nearby." And Rufus was then subjected to Rill's ability to say utterly ridiculous things with a perfectly straight, bland face.

* * *

Friday

Rill wanted to strangle her boss. Rufus, not Sephiroth, Although both were present and she personally blamed both of them for her current humiliation.

Apparently Rufus really wanted to get a rise out of her. Sephiroth had come up personally to make some request, whatever it was didn't matter anymore, and it had all gone to hell when Rufus waited for the opportune moment in the conversation and then he said to her with a raunchy smirk on his face:

"You're on my list of things to do today."

For a beat there had been utter silence. And in that beat, Rill heard the Planet all but roaring with laughter.

"With rapidly diminishing respect, sir: In your dreams." _Over the line, buddy. Keep it clean, or shut up. I get enough of this crap from Genesis._ But the angry glitter in Sephiroth's eyes did make her somewhat wary of returning to work next Monday.

* * *

Going back to work would have been much more pleasant had she not run into Genesis on the way up to the SOLDIER floor.

"I know what you want, woman." The term sounded like an insult from his lips. "Going crawling back after the Vice President decided he didn't want you?"

 _That...is it._

After a week of listening to Rufus's flirting, which the Planet had said wasn't done entirely in joking, Rill had no more patience to put up with this crimson headache. She had actually been writing a rough draft of exactly what she wanted to tell Genesis, But it had needed to be revised multiple times to remove the less than polite words from it.

"At the moment, sir. I want to go to my office and do my work without your presence interrupting what would otherwise be a perfectly productive day. However, as you have already denied me that much, kindly do me this small favor. Go bother someone else." She smiled frigidly, her eyes gazing up at him through her glasses without the slightest hint of warmth or tolerance.

"You clearly have some issue with me. But as, in my eyes, I have never been anything but civil towards you, I do not see the need to apologize for some wrongdoing."

 _I've been nice and beyond even though you've been making my life as hellish as possible. I ain't gonna say sorry when I haven't done anything wrong. #$% off._

Rill then calmly brushed past the dumbfounded commander without a backwards glance, heading for the elevator. She heard him shout after her, anger very clearly in his tone. But she just regarded him through the closing doors without flinching or breaking eye contact.

Only once she had a moment of privacy within the ascending box, she turned her face away from the camera and let a feeling of unrestrained anger boil onto her face. Her eyes flashed with power as her temper stirred the part of her that controlled her magic. All gentleness fled from her expression and there remained only an angry, indignant girl in it's place.

 _I'm trying to protect the only family I have left without getting chucked into a cage myself, you melodramatic bastard of an attention hog. We've been hunted down like animals to be captured and killed without a second thought if we resisted. In contrast, there's you, all the prestige, power and fame most anyone in the world could want. Yet the only thing you can find to do with your time is to envy the one person who happens to have more of all the aforementioned things than you do. But instead of taking it up with him like a normal person, you're content to rag on me instead because I won't fight back! I can't without ruining everything I've worked for!_

By the time the elevator doors opened, Nerilka's expression was back in its usual neutral mask. Not a glimpse of the raw anger she harbored was visible.

* * *

 _...Soooooo...?_ Rill wasn't tired, yet, but if Aerith kept this up, she very easily might be.

 _So what? Nothing of any interest has happened since I arrived at work. Sephiroth greeted me and is currently on the phone in a teleconference._ She had a backload of work, as she had expected and didn't really want to waste time.

Her PHS buzzed and she glanced at a cheerful, very happy message from Zack complete with multiple smiley faces.

" _Glad you're back with us, Rill! Seph's a lot scarier without you there!"_ She rolled her eyes slightly as she put her phone away and kept working. Just organizing the work on her desk would take all morning.

Her plans, hopes, for a productive morning were cruelly shattered by Genesis deciding to come bother his friend, having successfully managed to foist his work off on other people.

"You've got to be bored with her by now, Sephiroth. Why do you keep her around?" Rill had a moment's warning from the Planet before the alarms went off.

The general groaned, massaging his temples.

"Genesis, shut up for a minute. Rill?" She was already flicking through the file she had compiled of the various alarms that the building had.

"Ah...Second Class involved...Second Class is the cause."

"Zack." Genesis and Sephiroth said in unison, though with very different tones. Genesis said it as though he was disgusted. Sephiroth was simply tired.

"Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that he was just waiting for you?"

"Because you have excellent intuition, sir." Was her dry reply as she rose. "I will be back in about twenty minutes."

* * *

Just texting Zack that she was coming and not pleased was enough to get most of the mess cleaned up by the time she exited the elevator.

"What was all of this?" Rill asked one of the infantry on duty. The man snickered as he watched the formerly rampaging SOLDIER squad scurry about like naughty children that had been caught in their wrongdoing.

The walls had been bedecked with streamers and banners, not all of which made sense. After all, Rill certainly wasn't pregnant, so the 'It's a Girl!' announcement banners didn't fit. Neither did what looked like a wedding cake, five tiers, white frosting, red velvet. There was only one pinata...albeit it was a life sized...no...an actual chocobo? A green one no less! _How did they do this?_

"Can't say for sure, miss. I think it was meant to be a welcome party for someone." She processed that for a moment then sighed and looked down.

"Zack, I was only gone for a week." The 2nd class was once again entering his monthly Mako high but hadn't received anything to temper the injection, probably because he had run out before it was finished. He was in an emotional stage and was clinging to her and crying like a baby. He shook his head and snuggled closer.

"Too long."

"Five days. Zack, it was just five days."

"Still too long." He muttered sulkily. "He doesn't get you. You're our secretary..." Rill sighed as she checked the IV which Zack still had hanging out of his arm, thank goodness the ones in charge of this could rig up something to make it so he didn't bleed out with significant movement.

"How many of your shots did you take before tearing out of the infirmary to set this up?"

She ended up needing to transport him back herself, pinching his ear to guide him along.

* * *

"Ah, here is our missing subject." _Oh no..._ Rill's back was suddenly a mass of goosebumps as she looked with concealed horror and disgust at the one and only Professor Hojo.

The man would be taller if he wasn't continually slouching about all over the place, likely a result of bending over too many microscope lenses. But even that wouldn't have improved his pallor from being inside too much, the dull discolored state of his greying hair or the brilliant shiftiness of his eyes behind his glasses. Under that dispassionate gaze, everything was a test subject.

Rill didn't know what was worse. To have Hojo look at a semi helpless Zack with that cold, clinical, analytical gaze, or to have it turned on her. The Planet was warning her to get away from him as quickly as she could without outright running. This man was the biggest threat to her in the entire building. This man was why Aeris couldn't live life normally.

"My thanks for returning him to me, Miss...?"

"Thomas, Professor." She said in her usual cool tone. "I am not sure what his injections contained, but they appear to have negatively affected his impulse control." Zack whined and hugged her again, blowing a childish raspberry at the scientist.

"You can't have her either, Bug-eyes!"

"Not that it was all that impressive to begin with." Rill continued, barely missing a beat. Hojo actually chuckled as some men came forward to try and remove Zack's arms from their place around Rill without breaking the petite woman.

"Any baseline will do so long as it can be documented. My apologies for the inconvenience." The manners were a mere formality. Rill could tell that very clearly. He didn't care that Zack was clinging to her like a young chimpanzee. He didn't care that he had made a party themed mess of the thirteenth floor. He just wanted to get back to his research, and possibly up the dosage of whatever Zack had been given.

The security proved to be no more successful in removing Zack from her person as they had been at keeping him from breaking out in the first place. Rill finally looked down at him and said in a rather cross tone:

"Zackery Faire, I shall be late in returning to my work if you persist in this action. Let. Go. Of. Me." The sharply enunciated words did the trick and a sniffling Zack was led back to his cot and she was let free. Rill sighed, knowing she would have an even more clingy and upset Zack than usual to deal with once this was all over. She'd probably have to filch a few cookies from Sephiroth to quiet him down. The sugar free granola kind, those would probably cause the least damage.

Rill nodded politely to Hojo, ignoring the interested way his eyes were glittering now as she swept out of the infirmary.

* * *

Rill returned to the office within her stated time limit, and she was bemused to see that Genesis was holding a stopwatch of all things.

"What is he doing, sir?" She asked Sephiroth who was looking rather smug.

"Timing you to see if you'd come back within the limit. He didn't think you would be. Genesis, hit the stop already. She's back." The other 1st Class threw the device away with a disgusted sound.

"Stupid thing must not be working right..." Rill held in a sigh with much practice as she returned to her desk.

"I take it there was some kind of wager?" She asked her boss with only slightly raised brows. Sephiroth looked sadistically pleased as Genesis sulked out of the room.

"If you made it back on time, he had to go and take back the work he foisted off onto others and do it all by himself."

"And what was his condition?" This brought on a flicker from Sephiroth that made her look at him strangely.

"Never mind. Not important."

" _If she's not back on time, then she's not the perfect secretary and you obviously should fire her."_ _Sephiroth glared at his friend, true anger in his gaze._

" _Genesis, she hasn't done anything to you for you treat her like this. And don't think I haven't heard rumors about why the Turks won't let you be on the same floor without one of them having line of sight on you and a loaded gun!"_

* * *

 _You've got to me kidding me._ Rill stared at Rufus, doing her utmost not to fall into her natural expression and deadpan at him: _Watchu say, boi?_ The blond Vice President, only a few years her senior gave her a flawless smile and repeated himself.

"Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to the state dinner?" Rill had heard him correctly then. She also heard a scuffle from the side of the room as someone, likely Kunsel, caught Zack as he tried to race forward to her defense.

"I heard you the first time, sir. I am merely trying to comprehend why you are asking me." _No I'm not. I already know. You want people to see us together. You want to start integrating me in higher society and use my reputation to validate your own._ As an afterthought, she added. _And you want to annoy most of SOLDIER and the Turks simultaneously. And you are doing a phenomenal job of it too._

The only question was...could she afford to say no?

If she said yes, she was playing into his plans. If she said no, everyone, or the media rather, would be up in arms and poking their collective nose into her business, her background. Wondering why she would refuse...

 _Oh you crafty bastard._

The background digging was exactly what she wanted to avoid. It might link her to Aeris somehow and then she would be caught. But likely, Rufus thought she had some connection to an outside party that she didn't want exposed and thus had done this. A calculated move to try and poke at the unknown factor she represented, maneuver her towards the position he wanted her in and get a reasonable date all at once.

 _Touche, blondie._

"Is it that difficult to believe you are an exceptionally attractive woman, Rill?" He asked, a mocking little gleam in his eye. She gave him a dry look. _I am not amused by your BS, Rufus, however brilliant a move this was._

"You are welcome to spend the state dinner trying to convince me." _I'll go with you._

* * *

The SOLIDER department was in an uproar. Rill was attending a bigwig party and she was doing so as the Vice President's date!

She had to reroute official phone calls since most of the ones she was receiving were either from disappointed SOLDIER lower in the ranks, or from panicked worrywarts with spiky black hair.

"Zack, this not the end of the world and it will only be a one time thing. If you want to babble at me about it, do it after hours." She said firmly, hanging up before he could protest further. Rill massaged the bridge of her nose in a rare sign of stress.

 _I was not aware I was this popular..._

For all that Aeris insisted that Sephiroth would be upset, he seemed to be taking it rather well. He hadn't broken anything, just asked her if the rumors were true and upon her confirmation said he looked forward to seeing her at the event.

" _At least there will be one thing to look forward too."_ Whatever he had meant by that. Aeris had started laughing when she told her what he had said.

Her PHS went off.

From: Rufus

Sub: Get ready beautiful.

' _What color is your dress?'_

She contemplated the question for a moment...and found she had absolutely no clue. This hadn't been something she was looking forward to and she was trying to focus on her actual job rather than what color dress she would wear.

From: The SUPAH Secretary

Sub: Zack did it

' _Since I only agreed to accompany you about three hours ago, I don't know yet. I'll let you know when I do.'_

Rill could pick out a dress color in a day at the very least, right? She might have to talk to Shuriken or One Gun, they would know something about formal attire for women. She almost sighed when she received another text.

From: Da big boss

Sub: Reno did it

 _'Might I offer a suggestion?'_

And since she couldn't actually see his face, she couldn't tell if it he was offering a genuine suggestion or just yanking her around now that he had her.

From: The SUPAH Secretary

Sub: No, you did

 _'By all means.'_

Rill had only gotten a few moments of reprieve before she was interrupted once again, this time by a knock at the door. She buzzed them in, expecting some delivery of paper work for Sephiroth to sign, but instead a man came in holding a bouquet of dark blue flowers and a note. He made straight for her desk and placed his delivery before her before leaving without a word.

Rill looked at the gift with some bewilderment.

 _Blue orchids?_ She liked their scent, if nothing else and it was a lovely color...

She absently checked the note and forced herself not to blush.

' _This color would bring out your eyes magnificently. I would like to request that you not wear your glasses. They are probably much more beautiful without the lenses._

 _Your Escort'_

"Who are those from?" Sephiroth's tone was neutral and curious as Rill carefully set the admittedly lovely bouquet aside.

"The Vice President." She answered thoughtfully. The color suggestion wasn't bad...and it was a mature color. Not something that she would look young or vulnerable in. If she was going to do this, she wasn't going to be seen as a child if she could help it. It was bad enough that Rufus had managed to pull this off.

"I see..." She looked over at her boss who was still looking at the work on his desk, but while he was holding a pen he wasn't writing with it.

"Sir...?"

"Never mind me Rill." He gave her a rather forced smile. "He just beat me to the punch, that's all." Rill's mind went blank for an instant as he said that. Not with panic. More like...surprise. She knew that her boss didn't care for the charades of wealth and status that had him on parade like a prized chocobo. then her rational mind came back into play and she calmed down. Aeris didn't.

 _He wants someone he knows won't read too much into the gesture. Someone he knows and is comfortable with because while he's a very big figure, he doesn't have much experience by way of social interaction. He didn't mean anything by it..._

Aeris was outright singing with delight despite Rill...not really reacting that much.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm going to publicly answer questions posted in the reviews in here from now on. Just please understand, no (major) spoilers. Ever. Especially about pairings.**

 **Batgirl78: There will (of course) be obnoxious Silver Elite members at the party. It is their natural habitat, after all. And no, those two will not be catching any breaks anytime soon.**

 **SuperVised: Angeal will be appearing in the future, but he gets very little screen time compared to the others. Frankly, his personality isn't as interesting. He's harder to play with, you know?**


	7. Irresponsible pet owners suck

The state dinner came far too quickly.

It was being held in a magnificent section of the city, smooth streets, illuminated marble fountains and imported trees and bushes that would doubtless perish before very long. Normally, Rill lived in Sector Three. However, for the week leading up to the dinner, Rufus arranged for her to stay in a hotel closer to the site so that the Turks could easily monitor and protect her.

Rill despaired of every being able to return to some semblance of anonymity after the event since the infuriating jerk, Rufus, had been the perfect dastardly gentleman and had managed to lock down all of her information. So much so that no one outside the company knew she was his date. This might sound like a truly gentlemanly move, but all it would accomplish would be to heighten people's fascination with the Vice-President's mysterious date. And Rufus knew it.

She draped the white shawl around her shoulders with a fluttery nervous feeling in her stomach. She was exposed, her shoulders barely covered by the silky fabric of her dress, in the dark blue that Rufus had recommended with a white ribbon tied around her waist to give a further impression of slimness. She had only a simple silver necklace for jewelry, a choker that coiled tightly around her throat. _No letting down your guard for even a moment._ She reminded herself, forcing herself to swallow. She knew that by the end of the night, she would no doubt be feeling a little inadequate as a woman considering the wealth of those she was going to be rubbing shoulders with tonight.

She gripped her clutch tighter than she intended as the Planet told her that the driver, and her escort, had arrived. Rill forced herself to stay calm until she heard the knock on the door.

Upon opening it, she found herself face to face with Tseng, whose face softened somewhat and he offered her a slight smile.

 _He thinks you look nice._ The Planet said, cooing. Tseng's efforts to protect Aeris and Rill both were fully appreciated. He might be working for Shinra, but...well, the Planet didn't really care that he did.

"He's almost here. Are you ready?" She gave him a half grimace, half smile. Elmyra had sat the Turk down and told him in no uncertain terms how she expected Rill to be treated tonight while Aeris tried not to laugh and Rill tried not to melt into the floor in embarrassment.

Rufus was coming along the hall once Tseng had signaled that she was ready, flanked by Katana, the sword master among the Turks. The young Vice President was wearing a finer version of his daily white suit with a blue cravat that went along with her dress.

"You look splendid, Rill." She couldn't resist the urge to give him a flat look. She looked and felt like a girl playing at being a woman. No dress could accomplish that, even if it was of a fine silk, in a shade of blue that she had decided she adored. His eyes lingered for a moment on her necklace and he nodded, apparently satisfied.

"You chose silver. Excellent. This would have been embarrassing otherwise." One of the Turks, dressed in their usual uniform stepped forward and she saw a glint of admiration in Katana's usually stoic gaze as he examined her, holding a chest of some kind...

Rill's eyes widened as Rufus opened the box to reveal silver jewelry, several slim silver bangles meant to be worn together, the occasional stone set into them catching the light just so. There was also a pair of glittering diamond earrings. All pure and of very fine quality. The Planet assured her of that.

She was so stunned that Rufus had slipped the bracelets onto her wrists and clipped the earrings onto her unpierced ears before she could say a word.

"What are you doing?" She said, finding her voice in her surprise. Rufus looked at her with some mild reproach.

"You don't think I'd embarrass you by asking you to do this without making sure you could look the part, do you?" He offered her another bouquet of orchids, only these were white. She let out a slow breath and accepted them. _She did like the flowers and Aeris hadn't been able to coax any into growing yet..._ They would go into the vase beside the blue ones he had sent earlier that week. Rufus eyes her for a moment, then plucked one of the flowers out and tucked it neatly into her updo, a looser, more elegant hairstyle than her usual look. He then inspected her for a moment before nodding and smiling his apparent approval.

"What are you doing?" Rill was bemused at how far he was going just to get her as a right hand. She wouldn't have figured that Rufus, with his horrible, dirty pick up lines, would be...like this.

He graced her with a rather sincere smile that held part genuine enjoyment and part mischief.

"The world expects me to have the best beside me. As my father's son, I am entitled to no less."

"You are lying, sir." She said dryly, ignoring Katana who had stepped back into shadowing position. "If that were the case, you would have sent me what I was expected to wear and it would doubtless have made Scarlet appear conservative."

Rufus offered her his arm once she had secured the white bouquet which she took as they walked out to their limo.

"My father's reputation and my own joking aside, Rill, I do know how to treat a woman properly. When she's worth it, I take great satisfaction in doing so."

* * *

On the ride to the estate where the dinner would be taking place, Rufus explained that he didn't expect her to be more than arm candy, though some commentary about other guests would not go amiss.

"Aren't you supposed to have been there earlier? To welcome guests as they arrived?" He smirked.

"I must see to the comfort and security of my date, Miss Nerilka. My father understood perfectly." There was a slight, dry drollness to the way he said this that made Rill fairly certain that whatever the President of the company had thought of Rufus's choice of company, he didn't have that high an opinion of her.

"Of course, sir." Rufus's smirk lessened as he regarded her steadily.

"Regardless of how you may view this evening, Rill. It would be easier if you called me by name."

"I wouldn't want to give anyone the wrong impression, sir." She replied with a hint of sarcasm. _You're not subtle, sir. Or at least, I don't think you are. I am not on first name terms with you. You're not my boss directly, but you're still high enough above me to make this socially awkward._

* * *

Or not.

Putting on a polite smile was actually not that different from her day to day work, only most of these people didn't see her on a daily basis. The airheaded polite chatter was easily forgotten, though Rill was careful to remember some faces as the chatter continued.

There wasn't much time for talk as Rufus lead her to the table that she assumed would be theirs.

"My father will be holding court somewhere over there." He indicated a long table towards the front of the room.

"We will not be part of said court." She observed as he pulled out her chair for her before sitting down himself.

"He doesn't have enough money to make me do that."

Unfortunately, the only saving grace for dinner was Rufus himself. For all that she knew that he was, in some fashion, pushing for a distinct angle, he was still the most tolerable person she spoke to.

There were a dozen different attempts from those at their table to get more information on her background, where she came from, her education, etc. The assumption was plain that if she was accompanying Rufus to this event then she must be rich and not have much else worth noting. The implication left a bad taste in her mouth, though Rufus reacted to the comments with nothing but the blithe suggestion that the guest in question was insulting his intelligence.

"Nerilka has been a tremendous asset to the company, managing to cut our damage budget down to a fraction of what it was before." His ice colored eyes flicked towards her, passing the lead to her.

"You flatter me, sir." She said modestly, tilting her head slightly in acknowledgement.

"Nonsense!" One man's voice behind her made a shiver of revulsion crawl down her spine. _The President..._ A soft, unpleasantly sticky hand fell on her exposed shoulder. "You're too modest, my girl! I've heard nothing but good things about you!" Judging by her date's reaction, this was an unwanted hitch in his plans. Rufus had been controlling the conversation deftly but with his father present, he had to take a step back or else expose his hand.

"Like father, like son, sir. It's nothing that special." _Please get your hand off of me..._ Rill's smile looked as relaxed and genuine as it ever did, but she was cringing inside. The similarities between President Gunther Shinra and Don Corneo of the slums were too many for her to be comfortable in his presence.

"Rufus, you should have told me that you were planning on bringing Miss Thomas tonight, I would have gladly gotten a place for you at the head table!" Rufus gave a smile in answer to his father's remarks.

"I didn't wish to subject Nerilka to the full spotlight yet, father." Alarm bells started chiming distantly in Rill's head. There was something major in Rufus's words... Pres Shinra caught it too and suddenly he was regarding her with a keen calculation that was rarely ever seen from the man. It was sometimes hard to believe, with the multitude of quirks and scandals, the blatant corruption and Rill's overall low opinion of the man that this man was the founder of a company that had grown to functionally control the world in less than three decades. He was a businessman and politician of epic proportions, even if he was a shameless hedonist and a tyrant as well.

"Quite so, son." The man gave Rill another calculating look behind a too wide smile. "Next time then, Miss Thomas." Rill gave a neutral smile in answer and a noncommittal sound. If she had her way there wouldn't be a next time period. If she had to attend the damn functions, she'd probably ask Sephiroth herself just to avoid this nonsense! That or she would take the week of the function off and be in Mideel on vacation! Anything but here!

A line of tension went out of Rill's shoulders once President Shinra moved on, chatting with more people at various tables. Rufus restarted the conversation, but this time, kept attention away from her.

Rill's gaze wandered around the room, noting several familiar faces. She spotted three places where Turks were subtly stationed and knew that at least twice that many were monitoring the situation outside alongside a squad from SOLDIER. An event like this was certain to be a target for anti-Shinra terrorist activity. Almost every executive in the company was here. Doubtless there had been a thorough sweeping of the entire city to ensure this would proceed without incident.

Rill spotted Sephiroth easily. He was standing over in another part of the room with Angeal and Genesis, and the trio were almost entirely surrounded by adoring, admiring women. Genesis had one on his arm, though she didn't recall news of him asking one specifically to accompany him. Likely he had just picked her out of the crowd and she was too starstruck to do anything but swoon.

The Silver General's head turned and their eyes met. The Planet informed her very smugly that he was surprised at her appearance and thought she looked beautiful.

 _Are you starting to act like Aeris?_ She asked incredulously. She got the distinct impression of laughter in response and little else.

All three of the 1st Class SOLDIER cut a dashing image in their suits. She could definitely see why they were used as recruitment poster advertisements.

A touch on her shoulder brought her attention back to Rufus who had risen and was extending a hand to her with a charming smile.

"Formality calls, Nerilka." Dancing was being prepared for as servers came to clear away the dinner dishes. President Shinra was still making rounds of his supporters and enemies, thus opening the dancing likely fell to Rufus and by extension to her.

She rose, accepting his hand as he led her to the dance floor. Thank goodness that Aeris was enough of a hopeless romantic to have badgered her into learning ballroom dancing. Apparently, the Turks had taught Aeris how to do it originally. The Turks of all people! Rill was far from an expert, but she could pass herself off as graceful at the very least provided her partner knew what he was doing.

And it was clear that Rufus did know exactly what he was doing. His hand was just at her ribcage, positioned in a place that didn't convey possession, perversion, or uneasiness. A comfortable place. She was glad for her gloves to conceal her own nervously sweating palms as a modestly paced piece began to play. _So many eyes..._

"You are full of surprises, Rill." He noted after a few turns where Rill managed to keep her footing without making her inexperience plain. _Relax, loosen up and flow with your partner._ She reminded herself, letting him guide her through a gentle spin.

"I don't recall giving permission to call me by my first name sir, let alone my nickname." She replied cooly. This only served to make him chuckle.

"Always so cold. Is there anyone you trust fully?"

"A select few." _In order:_ _Aeris, Elmyra, Zack, Reno, Tseng, Cloud, Sephiroth. Other Turks and SOLDIERs to a lesser extent._ But no real friends. Or what other people would consider friends.

"What does it take to be included in that exclusive group?" She let a touch of sharpness show in her smile.

"Not being an ambitious heir to a company of Shinra's size and success would help." _Not having an agenda that could span the entirety of Midgar._

"How unfortunate. I thought we were doing very well together." The blonde she danced with said diffidently.

 _Yes..._ Rill thought hard as she and Rufus continued to dance, only intermittently exchanging jibes at each other and their fellow guests. _That's what's worrying me. You're making yourself very appealing. Even though I know you have something planned, something involving me, I am enjoying being around you._

It was rather refreshing, the dance they had been engaging in since Rufus got her to work for him for a week. He wanted her on his side and wasn't above appealing to her taste to get her. _I cannot possibly be this valuable to him._ Both were fully aware that they were engaging in a silent battle, a conflict that lay solely between them. Practically no one else was involved in this fight. Just the two of them...

 _That's too fair._ She realized abruptly. Rufus was a master manipulator. He knew that fighting fair was a luxury no matter what battle you were in. So why would he do it with her? Where was his ace...?

After an indeterminate time, they left the dance floor. Rufus had quite masterfully kept Rill away from a loudly laughing, and rather tipsy Heidegger throughout all that time, as well as his father, both of which she was rather grateful for.

"I believe the good General will be unhappy about my monopolizing your attention so wholly." He murmured to her with a vindictive amusement in his voice. Rill scoffed quietly. _He's like a child bragging about a new toy!_

"Sir, I have yet to meet anyone suited to gloating. Please stop." He fixed her with an intent, almost smoldering look and spoke in a soft smooth voice.

"Why should I? I have secured easily the most captivating woman in Madgar as my date." His tone was so sincere she almost blushed. Almost. This was Rufus after all. She looked him in the eye with a quirked brow.

"Good tone, good line. The smolder is a bit much." The semi seductive look dropped, replaced by his usual satisfied smirk.

"Excellent. Too much for you, is usually everything a lesser woman would want." And that kind of fiddly compliment that required unravelling was just the kind that made her cheeks feel hot. Was she better or worse than other women? Something being too much for her, implied weakness and a lack, a stark contradiction to him referring to the rest of her gender as lesser.

 _I am caught somewhere between admiring your intelligence and cunning and violently wanting to turn you inside-out._ Rill's carefully screened glower changed into a look of genuine surprise when she spotted a familiar streak of red.

Reno was eyeing her from his post on the other side of the room. And his usual on the job composure, such as it was, was marred by worry. _Come to think of it, Tseng was nervous about tonight as well._

"Would you care for a drink?" Rufus asked, drawing her attention back as he gestured at a waiter standing ready with a tray of dainty flutes. She gave him a look. Champagne during the meal had been unavoidable. She was at her limit and would not go past it. As any child of the slums knew, too much liquor meant bad news.

"Water or something non-alcoholic." She stated dryly. Rufus waved at the waiter standing close enough to listen. He gave something between a bow and a deep nod before striding away, tray balanced perfectly.

"I am afraid I have some business to attend to." Rufus informed Rill once the man had returned with their glasses and they had refreshed themselves. "See that couple over there? The woman in the dark purple and the man who needs a better hairstyle?" Rill glanced at the pair he indicated. They were chatting and mingling the same as everyone else, but she caught the man's eyes flicking hastily away from them.

"I see them." She said, barely moving her lips. "Kindly leave me with someone else, sir. I have nothing to do with your personal business." _You are not involving me with you allies in this coup, jackass. Leave me out of it!_

"It would be churlish of me to abandon my date." He responded.

"Then I'm afraid I suddenly must use the restroom." She said just as archly. She handed him her empty glass and made her way around the edges of the room towards the hall where her goal was located.

 _He's not giving up, is he?_ She thought once she had gained a measure of privacy, letting her cool, adult persona lapse for a moment. The calm unruffled mask dropped to reveal a scared, shaking girl who felt as if she were barely managing to tread water. Rill had handled a lot of people since coming to Shinra, and she had been hoping to just glide through quietly to her desired information without drawing attention from the higher ups. But she supposed that had been a hopeless plan from the first moment that Sephiroth had picked her out of the crowd when she stood up to Scarlett.

Rufus was going to get annoying fast if he kept this up. And she couldn't think of anyway of getting rid of him without giving him what he wanted.

She heard a few other women enter. Rill stayed still and quiet as she listened. Bathrooms were actually an excellent place to hear gossip. Women were so ingrained to move in packs that it was actually quite simple to get the scoop on something if you stayed invisible and listened.

"-looked at me!" One woman was clearly very excited.

"Don't be silly, he was looking at the little mystery the Vice President had on his arm." Rill's mood went down hill. She didn't need to hear women snipping about her. She wanted more useful information than that.

One voice spoke in a calm, curious sort of way.

"Almost everyone was at one point or another. No one I've spoken to has the faintest clue who she is. And those that do know her can't give me the same story. I heard Scarlett say she was a simple penpusher. But Director Lazard claims she's one of the most critical people in the SOLDIER program."

"If by important you mean that the General's got it for her..." This mutter was said in a most sulky manner. Rill almost groaned. Almost. Of course it would be some Sephiroth fans that came to that conclusion.

"That's ridiculous. If that were the case, she would be hanging off his arm instead of the Vice President's." The woman's voice took on an appreciative purr. "Sephiroth seems to be the type to go after whatever he wants and not. Ever. Stop." _Eh. Not quite. The only thing he really hunts and hoards like a dragon is cookies._

"What if he did and she turned him down?"

"Impossible. Who in their right mind would say no to a man like that?" _Me since a lot of my best information is reliant on staying in the good graces of his fanclub._

"I don't know...why else would he be staring at her?"

"It was only a few glances. Hardly gawking."

"It's more than anyone else got."

"He's not the only one."

Rill resisted the urge to scrub her eyes in weariness. Aeris would kill her if she smudged her carefully applied makeup. Gossip was always a two edged sword, you never knew what you might get. But Sephiroth paying attention to her implied he was worried for some reason. _Need to talk to him without getting the gossip circles riled even higher than they already are now...Tseng and Reno worry because it's their job to be paranoid about everything. But what could they know of and Sephiroth as well that I didn't hear about?_

* * *

Rill was back in the ballroom and very content to be free from Rufus for at least a little while. She wandered about the edges of the room, altering her posture to a more subtle glide that wouldn't draw the eye to her.

She was greeted by a few standard troopers who were guarding the doors and was surprised and delighted to find that Cloud was present.

The boy had improved greatly in his confidence in talking to her, though his partner seemed paralyzed with nerves.

"You look great, Miss Nerilka." Cloud said sincerely, a smile coming onto his face.

"You're looking sharp yourself, Cloud." She replied. "How's your mom doing? I hope the flu's passed her by." The young infantry shrugged.

"Ma never stays sick for long. She shook it off after a day while everyone else was out for a week. She was out and helping doctor everyone else the moment she could walk." There was a clear note of pride and confidence in Cloud's voice whenever he talked about his mother. The kid made it no secret that he loved her and respected her strength for living the way she did up in the unforgiving mountains. From what she had heard from him, Skye Strife sounded like one hell of a woman.

"She sounds like you." Rill teased. She had never let Cloud forget what she had said about his heroic streak. And despite the way he tried to wave it off as unimportant, she only ever saw further validation of her comment. The flashy heroics were few and far between for Cloud, but he worked hard and tried his best. His honesty was something she admired in him, as well as his ambition, signing up for Shinra at the age of 15 in pursuit of his dreams, then sending almost all of his wages back to his mother.

"She's way tougher than I am."

"Don't keep selling yourself short Cloud. You don't have that many inches to spare, you know?" Rill's first honestly relaxed conversation of the evening was interrupted by a howl that she knew rather well.

 _Oh no..._

The building was shaped like a large rectangle with a large hollow space in the middle that served as an elegantly decorated courtyard. It was usually used for large outdoor galas and the double glass doors that led to it were standing open and Rill saw only a vague blur outside along with snarling and the sounds of people in pain. The Planet winced as it showed her flickers of what had already transpired. _A mangled arm, the bone gleaming through the shredded flesh. A slashed face, blood running into too young eyes. One terrified infantry standing against the unknown terror that was circling the three of them like the hunter he was._ And she knew with a cold fist closing around her gut, that the wounds would only become worse if she didn't do something.

The problem was being caused by Dark Nation, the altered displacer beast that Rufus had rescued from the labs instead of letting him to put down once his usefulness as a specimen had ended. The beast was unusually clever and strong, but he had only listened to Rufus. Anyone else trying to handle him had been mauled rather badly. At least, until Rill had won the creature over and reinforced the half hearted commands that Rufus had trained him to respond to. _There's no one else. The infantry don't dare shoot him because he's Rufus's pet. The SOLDIER can't intervene for the same reason!_

The realization of the significance of what was about to transpire, what she was about to do, hit her like a casting of Bolt 3 as she stalked towards the outside. Her surprise transformed into rage that wanted to burn everything she saw to the ground. _This is his ace...that bastard!_ But she forced the fire back behind her breast bone, every particle of it until only icy fury remained.

"Dark Nation!" She called, her anger making her usually warm voice frigid and unforgiving. At the summons, the unknown beast that served as Rufus's pet stopped harassing its victims, a trio of infantry that had been protecting the guest from harm.

Rill stared down at the animal from across the distance of several yards. A tense moment of silence and Dark Nation's hackles lowered and he came slinking forward, head bowed low in shame. He knew he was going to be scolded.

"Bad." Rill said flatly. "You know better than that. Down." Dark Nation whined at the hostility in her tone and pressed himself low to the ground in obvious subservience. A glance aside and the secretary saw a Turk cadet, a young man whose mouth was set in a hard line as he approached with the heavy lead that often needed to be replaced due to Dark Nation's slightly acidic fangs. He moved to reattach it to the heavy harness the animal wore only for him to snarl threateningly.

"Ho!" Rill barked, aware of hundreds of eyes watching her. "Leave it!" At the brisk command, the beast settled once again, tame but obviously unhappy at having displeased Rill.

"Thank you, Miss Nerilka." The cadet said, inclining his head towards her, but refusing to meet her level, unimpressed gaze. She thought she saw a glint of shame in them. _Not your fault kid._ She was going to have words with Rufus once this little drama had blown over. But first, healing. Old habits of her childhood never let her go anywhere without materia in a bangle, particularly a Restore. She had clasped it around her ankle under the hem of her dress to avoid drawing suspicion. Carrying it openly would be all but stating that she was uncomfortable. She had yet to see a situation where it was a bad thing.

"Let's see." Rill examined the man with the slashed arm first, ignoring the hussle and chatter around her. She motioned a serving hand forward.

"Press your towel to the other one's forehead and do not let either of them go into shock. Keep them talking." The young woman had a very pale face at the sight of the blood, but once given directions, she followed them.

Rill had a deft touch with materia and Restore was something she had ample practice with. While she couldn't restore the lost blood with her current crystal, she could heal the young man, Isaac, to the point where he was no longer in any danger of losing his arm. A swift application of her Heal materia eliminated the lingering anticoagulants Dark Nation seemed capable of producing at a whim. (She didn't know where the beast had come from originally. She would have wagered a year's salary that he had passed through the labs multiple times before landing with Rufus.)

As she sealed the second man's scalp, she noticed that her date had been helping settle things down again. Rufus glided through the murmuring crowd that surrounded her work space, a very satisfied smirk on his face that Rill had to force herself not to smack away. With the wounded healed and her mind settled, it only left room to become angry at him. And to notice that the lovely dress had gotten blood on it while she worked, though that help much less priority in the face of her carefully controlled wrath.

"Thank goodness you were close enough, Rill." he said in just loud enough of a voice for it to carry. "I don't think he would have listened to me as riled up as he was."

"It would certainly have confused him." She agreed noncommittally, her eyes boring into Rufus' with a hint of concealed anger. The jackass had the nerve to smile at her!

* * *

"You staged that." She said to him tightly back in the car that would take her home. The dinner had been called to a swift conclusion in light of the 'security breach'. The violence had put the other guests off of lingering as the injured were taken away for medical care.

"I haven't the faintest idea what you are talking about." Rufus said, too satisfied to be touched by her anger.

"Oh don't you?" She asked, sarcasm rolling over her voice. "Won't everyone be wondering just how personally we must be acquainted since your vicious pet heels to me like a tame puppy!?" Right in front of the media and guests, in plain view of everyone, Dark Nation had broken off a hunt after he had gotten blood. Something not even Rufus could get him to do easily. And under the influence of her commands alone allowed himself to be led away.

There had been men who lost their hands to the beast if they came too close.

Rill was furious. With herself for not anticipating the power play Rufus had forced on her. For the impression that all of Midgar would get the following morning that she was in a close enough relationship with the man to warrant such obedience from Dark Nation. With Rufus himself for not so much as having the gumption to try and make a legitimate move towards initiating an actual relationship instead of relying on social pressure like this.

"You forced my hand, Rill." He said calmly. "I said I want you with me and I will do whatever I have to in order to make that happen."

"You'd have been better off keeping up the charming act." She informed him frigidly, stripping off all the jewelry he had provided her with. "Fear may motivate many people, sir. But not all of them." She dumped the silver and gems into his lap and exited the car without a backwards glance.

* * *

Rufus watched Rill go with a frown that only showed once she had left with a swirl of her blood stained hem.

 _Well that didn't go as planned._ He didn't know Rill that well, but apparently there was more spine to the woman that he had previously thought. The end goal had been a reluctant alliance that would eventually smooth into a decent working relationship. In the front seat, Tseng was very pointedly not looking at him.

"You are welcome to say it." He invited, gathering up the jewelry that had been thrown at him with care.

"I don't believe that is necessary, sir." The Turk with possibly the best relationship with the uncannily efficient secretary said blandly. "I found she made her point very clear."

"That she did." Rufus conceded. This...miscalculation on his part would very likely set him back in her regard. _She does not take to roundabout manipulation. Noted._ So in order to keep her from digging in her heels altogether about working with him, he needed to change his angle. He supposed he had better continue with his initial plan and try to befriend her. Or at the moment, acquire her forgiveness. But...without outright begging. He didn't think it would be that effective even if he did stoop to that level. Rill was one of the more reasonable people he knew, it would just take time. How long, he didn't know. He had never seen or even heard of her being as angry as she was right now.

"Tseng, you know Nerilka outside of work." It was not a question. Rufus knew that his current goal was rather fond of the Wutian blooded Turk.

"Yes, sir." Came the all but toneless answer. He was anticipating, dreading, some order that he would have to carry out that would exploit the relationship he had with Rill and her family.

"How does one buy her forgiveness?" This earned a small snort from his henchman.

"The expression you are looking for, sir, is earn her forgiveness." _Cannot be bought. Must be done at her dictated pace and whim._ Rufus scowled. Another delay. But his plans couldn't proceed without her either on his side or her silence ensured. She knew too much. Could see too clearly. She was a loose end. One he was loath to cut off carelessly. It would be a criminal waste of her abilities to simply have her killed. That and he would have a difficult time finding a Turk willing to do it.

He needed the Department of Administrative Research on his side. They were the grand sum of his army at the moment. And there was nothing better for sowing mutiny among the ranks than to order the death of someone they all liked. Simply hiring a mercenary to eliminate her wouldn't fix the problem either. It would amount to the same thing. Having infiltration agents and assassins was a two edged sword in this regard. And Rill's death, no matter how natural it seemed, would all but slam the door on relations with the ranks of SOLDIER and the infantry, even if it might get him Scarlett. The head of Weapons Development despised Sephiroth's personal secretary. Rill's initial action forced the brazen researcher to hold herself in check constantly.

No, Rill had to live. Rufus had concluded that the first evening after Rill subtly told him that she wasn't interested in his coup. But apparently his only real option now was to do as Tseng had said. Earn her forgiveness the long and slow way.

Rufus scowled.

 _This could take years. But I suppose a little more caution on my part could have prevented this from becoming necessary. Nerilka Thomas...for someone who can avert as much trouble as you do for my company, you have a habit of causing it for me._


	8. Even Divas can learn

Rill knew that the gossip would be hell for weeks after the state dinner. But surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. At least, not as malicious.

Through excessive abuse of the rumor mill, Dark Nation's havoc exploded into a flood of fictitious stories. According to 'eyewitnesses' many much larger, more dangerous monsters had gotten loose. And there were some stories where AVALANCHE members made an appearance. But the rumors had one constant: She had been prominently involved and faced down something, or saved someone. The media was in love with her for her small scale heroics. And, of course, there was the flood of questions as to what kind of relationship she and Rufus had that his dangerous and iconic pet obeyed her so completely. Alongside the questions were the assumptions that they were secretly in a relationship. But she had expected that.

The one thing she found humorous in the whole thing was what Sephiroth's concern had been translated as by eyewitnesses and journalists.

Sephiroth's attention was made out as paternal protectiveness. The papers had managed to catch a picture of them in the office, just working together and obviously at ease with one another. There were of course one or two reporters that called it jealousy and speculated that Sephiroth was romantically interested in her. But surprisingly, the vast majority seemed to want the other story more.

This almost made Rill laugh herself sick in her office. Sephiroth was more irritated at his implied old age.

"Yes, I was concerned! The Vice President asked you to a publicized event out of the blue and I'm supposed to be okay with you being dragged into a media circus?" Rill patted her boss's shoulder consolingly.

"Your concern really means a great deal to me, sir. But please do stop worrying before your age catches up with you." He glared up at her, half expecting her to be smirking. But instead her expression showed only polite interest with the barest flicker of teasing in her eyes.

"Rill! I'm only 25!"

"I am well aware, sir." She said with a chuckle. "But considering the aforementioned media circus that I was dragged into, allow me to take some amusement where I can."

The silence didn't last more than a minute before Sephiroth actually spoke up.

"Rill...I have been told that asking a woman's age is considered very rude...but I honestly don't know and am rather curious." Rill glanced at him, a stack of files in her arms and a raised brow indicating he was to continue.

"Just how old are you?"

Rill was at a loss of how to answer.

She had recently turned 17, and that was a perfectly legal age to work for Shinra, if a little young for the position she currently held. But something made her want to keep her age to herself. As if by telling someone, the respect she had worked to earn would somehow be diminished...

 _Others might treat you differently, Rill. But not Sephiroth. He was already world famous when he was 17. You can tell him._ Aeris encouraged her warmly. Rill steeled her mind in spite of herself.

"How old do you think I am, sir?" She probed first, trying to gauge how much of a shock it would be. It would undoubtedly be at least five years too old, but...

Rill was subjected to the intense scrutiny of his cat like gaze for a moment as he considered his answer.

"23 or 24. Although, you act a lot older with the way you mother some people..." Sephiroth looked over her again, a pensive frown on his face. "No...23 or 24." She gave him a dry smile that felt brittle to her. It wasn't as bad as she had feared. But there was still fairly large difference between his guess and the truth.

"You're off by more than 5 years." Confusion flashed across his face and he seemed about ready to inquire further, but there came a strange scraping sound from above and Rill looked up at the vent in the ceiling.

"Zack, the drill sergeant has left a message about the proper way to increase the stamina of trainees..." The grate fell out with a clang and Zack stuck his head out, a despairing look on his face.

"Oh come on! I looked through his phone and deleted his contact for you!" Rill giggled.

"That you did. But he did have Commander Hewley's number still, and the commander has my number." Her PHS vibrated and she glanced at the message. "He says that if you're not in the VR room in the next ten minutes that you'll be assisting the candidates for 3rd Class in their preparation for the academic exam." Zack paused, considering...

"Which squad did he say?"

"Not squad, Zackery." Sephiroth said, amusement in his voice as he glanced at Rill's PHS himself. "All of the 3rd Class candidates." These words made the black haired SOLDIER go pale with horror and he vanished into the air ducts without a word.

"Think he'll make it in time?" Sephiroth asked, picking up the discarded grate and replacing it.

"So long as he doesn't get distracted, he ought to." Rill replied, heading for the door even as a new message came to her phone. "I'll be back soon, sir. It seems that there was an issue with a prototype roboguard down near the materia training facilities."

She was out the door before Sephiroth realized that she had dodged his question.

Off by more than five years and his estimate had put her near his own age. So that either meant she was still in her teens, or she was approaching her thirties. Given her appearance, Sephiroth was more inclined to think that she was near Zack's age of 18.

 _So...18 years, give or take._ It was startlingly young considering just how mature Rill was.

Sephiroth contemplation was interrupted, as it so frequently was, by Genesis poking his head into his office.

"Where's your secretary, Sephiroth?" The lack of condescension in his fellow 1st Class's voice was what drew his attention. The General regarded his friend with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Why do you need to know?" Genesis looked annoyed.

"I'm not going to hurt her. I just need to talk to her."

"About what?" Sephiroth rose, on his guard as to why his peer might want to speak to Rill. "In case you've forgotten, all you've ever done before is talk to her." She had handled it admirably as far as he could see. But the General still didn't like the fact that he couldn't trust one of his oldest and closest friends around his secretary.

The commander grimaced as if he were tasting something sour before drawing a breath.

"To apologize." he cast another look around the room and left, leaving a dumbfounded Sephiroth behind.

* * *

Rill was chatting with Reno as she helped him up to the infirmary. He had been nearby, so naturally he had gotten sucked into the chaos when the roboguard crashed his class of Turk trainees.

"Damned lucky the hunk of rusty bolts with an attitude didn't make it all the way through." He groused, gingerly putting weight on his leg. She had hastily healed him to the point where he could put weight on it. Reno may have been lanky, but he was tall and she was...not. Even at her best, she would never have been able to haul him all the way to the infirmary bearing most of his weight.

"And that there was a large shelf full of well used Bolt materia nearby." She replied dryly.

"And that!" He glanced at her. "Where the hell did you pick up materia skills like what you have?" She reached up and adjusted her glasses, it was a surprisingly good move for concealing her facial expression.

"Lots of practice."

"That isn't an answer, yo." He said flatly, groaning when he stepped wrong and jarred his injury. "I need a drink..."

"No, you need a doctor." She corrected.

"I can fix myself, just get me back to my floor."

"So you can get plastered before three o'clock with the alcohol that you _kept_ in your office?" The red haired Turk whipped his head down at her, expression turning to blatant disbelief.

" You took my booze!? When? How did I not notice? How in Ifrit's burning Hellfire are you not a Turk?!"

"Black makes me look sallow." She replied, allowing a tiny flicker of a smile to show on her face before sobering. "You're not getting any of it back. It's a miracle you're as functional as you are with as much liquor as you usually have in you."

"And how do you know how much I've had?" In answer, Rill pinched the back of his hand and watched as the skin sank back down, noticeably slower than it should have. A sign of dehydration, which came hand in hand with alcohol consumption.

"And your breath." She said, her usual composed mask wrinkling into a faintly disgusted look. "That smell only comes from 7th Moonshine." She could recognize alcohol. Slum brewed no less. Now that got Reno to thinking... It said on her file that Rill was from the slums. But he had also read that she lived above the Pate now. But if she could recognize 7th Moonshine just by smell...

His thoughts were interrupted by Rill speaking again.

"I also found the false bottom in the hidden drawer. The Costan tequila is currently being held by Shuriken."

"Oh come on, yo! She'll hog it all and I'll never get it back! Do you have any idea how much that stuff is worth?"

"Shut up, or your cookies disappear as well."

* * *

Genesis wasn't sure what to make of this woman. A tiny slip of a thing that had been playing a game of some sort. He could tell that she was hiding something. He used that ploy too often to not recognize it in someone else. He had simply assumed that she, like so many other females, was gunning for Sephiroth's attention and had her sights set on being on his arm. But unlike most others, she was doing it in a semi intelligent way. Earning his regard through competent work and dedication. He almost wouldn't have minded if it weren't...Sephiroth!

His friend, for all that his admirers wouldn't leave him be, had next to no idea of how to actually interact with most people. He either didn't understand or misinterpreted the most blatant propositions Genesis had ever heard! Every now and then, he would ask some question or do some strange thing that danced on the edge of socially acceptable. He wasn't helpless but he was certainly not as proficient in dealing with people as he or Angeal were.

Thus the greatest source of worry for his friend. Yes. His friend, no matter how envious he might get of him on some days. In the battlefield, or in command or a fight, Sephiroth was nigh on invincible. In professional interactions, he had no equal for being polite. He was intelligent, exotically handsome and very well off. His biggest weakness, possibly his only weakness, was women. He had no idea of how to interact with his fan club, or how to encourage their restraint and refinement. It had gotten so bad that he could barely go out in public without a dozen or so women and girls stalking him within an hour!

So when this Nerilka Thomas had come in while Genesis and Angeal were away, he had been curious upon hearing the rumors. When he had teased his friend about her, and he had gotten defensive, Genesis became worried. Sephiroth didn't...let people in like that. It was a miracle he hadn't accidentally married someone that time in the boonies on an early mission! (And wasn't that an interesting report to write up.) It was all over the gossip that he liked her. He'd hand picked her the first time he set eyes on her.

It was far from the first time that a woman had tried to charm her way into Sephiroth's bed through work, the only thing Sephiroth understood perfectly. But it was the first time that he had shown this much attachment to one of them. Genesis liked to think of himself as his friend's social filter. If the secretaries couldn't handle his attention, they weren't worth keeping around. They had all succumbed to his charm without much issue. He had never needed to become hostile with a woman before. The fact that Nerilka hadn't shown any reaction at all for weeks had only irritated him. Angered him even. He could handle women in most any situation. But not when they didn't give him something to work with! He had, Genesis realized now, slipped into open hostility while still believing he was merely testing her. She just shrugged off every insult, never raised her voice or lost control. She'd avoid interacting with him, going out of her way to slip through the thick crowds and prevent them from meeting as often as she could. And when he did manage to corner her, she'd take everything he threw at her, say something polite and disarming in response, turn back to her work and ignore him!

That had been what tore it for Genesis. It wasn't a matter of getting her fired, or protecting Sephiroth anymore. It was about getting the infuriating female to react to him! And he had gotten...nothing.

By all appearances, Nerilka was exactly what she had stated to him: Not Interested.

But that just felt...wrong! She had to have some weak spot, some pressure point. No one had that little emotional response! She had to be after something...

He wouldn't stoop to physically assaulting her, the Turks' overreaction was entirely unnecessary! He wasn't a monster like those careless louts who got themselves cut from the SOLDIER program within the first two weeks for that kind of behavior. He was better than that.

But the events of the State Dinner hosted by the president had brought Genesis's assumptions and calculations to a dead halt and forced him to discard everything he thought he knew about her.

Whatever Nerilka was in Shinra for... she was extremely courageous.

She wasn't after social elevation. Or if she was, she was far more tolerable than others of her ilk. They would fold like a house of cards at the first sign of trouble or danger.

Not her.

She had moved between the Vice President's pet that had just savaged men in armor in nothing but a fetching blue and white gown and without a visible weapon or defense. And she had stared the animal down, made it surrender through sheer force of will. The steel that she had shown him when she politely told him to piss off and leave her alone was visible again. As was anger. A righteous fury that he hadn't seen so clearly before.

Several women had fainted away at the sight of so much carnage, conspicuously close to a certain 1st Class SOLDIER. And she, the one he had thought would be most likely to pull something like that, was right up in the thick of things, making sure that the wounded were cared for. She didn't even flinch at the sight and smell of the blood. Didn't hesitate even as the flowing white sash and blue hem of her gown were stained with blood.

This woman was much, much more than he had given her credit for. He could see why Sephiroth regarded her so highly.

Nerilka Thomas was beautiful, intelligent, brave and patient. So very patient... She had not deserved the way he had been treating her. Far from it.

And Genesis had known that for weeks before this event had taken place. He just hadn't wanted to admit to himself that he had been wrong.

* * *

Rill kept an arm around Reno as he used her as a crutch as they hobbled down the hallway towards the infirmary.

Her threatening to cut off his access to her baking had gotten him to agree to see the doctor and she was consciously suppressing the triumphant smile she felt she had earned by talking the notoriously stubborn Turk around.

"I demand snickerdoodles in compensation for this blackmail."

"You are not the one in charge right now." She informed him calmly before glancing at the nurse who was failing to stifle her snickers. "I'll leave him to you. Let me know if he behaves."

"Sure thing Rill." From the wicked little smirk on the woman's face and the blatant unease on Reno's, she had a feeling that this would be an interesting check up for the Turk.

Rill was examining the damage report on her PHS as she headed back to the SOLDIER floor. She was heading for the elevator when the Planet began it's strange little humming again and she glanced around to see who it was responding to this time.

When she saw the flicker of red, Rill automatically altered her route to avoid Genesis. She hadn't spoken to him since she had come a hair's breadth away from losing her temper. Her cover simply couldn't take that kind of strain anymore.

...So why in Minerva's name was the Planet not telling her to avoid him anymore!?

No matter, she was already out of sight and circling around the barrier towards the stairs. _Almost...there...!_ She was reaching for the doorway, inches away from a few precious moments of peace...

"Miss Thomas!" _Knights burn it all!_ She cursed as she pretended not to hear, heading in and up with brisk movements. She intended on only going up one or two flights, to the juncture where the first stair house ended and the other began, then taking the elevator the rest of the way after he was hopefully thrown off her trail. She had gotten pretty good at evading pursuit of one sort or another in the Shinra building.

 _That is remarkably childish, Rill. He just wants to talk._

 _No comments from the peanut gallery, this includes meddling cousins._ She replied crisply.

"Miss Thomas, wait!"

That was...strange. She could count on one hand the number of times Commander Rhapsodos had used her name since their little feud began. She was usually 'woman' or 'you', or something similar, both with as much contempt as he could fit into the words. She exited the stairwell, the commander a full flight behind her but gaining swiftly. Hopefully he would think she had continued to climb the stairs long enough for her to get somewhere with a friendly face where he wouldn't approach her.

She moved for the elevator just as it arrived and opened to let a handful of clerks and a janitor off. She could hear the 1st Class SOLDIER exiting the stairwell as she moved into the elevator. He hissed out an audible curse and broke into a run.

 _Uh oh. Better make it fast._ Rill reached for the button that would take her to the SOLDIER floor, keeping her eyes on her PHS as if she hadn't noticed the man chasing her down.

 _For crying out loud... Nerilka Thomas, the man wants to talk to you! Now stop and listen to what he has to say!_ Aeris rarely raised her voice at all for any reason. But this startling outburst made Rill hesitate for a split second. And that hesitation was just long enough for Genesis to enter the cab with her.

He wasn't even breathing hard from his run. _SOLDIER..._

"SOLDIER floor?" He asked, regarding her with the distinct, bright Mako blue eyes of a high level SOLDIER.

"Yes, sir." She replied in her usual calm voice. _At least try. Don't snap until he starts in...if he does._ The whole vibe she was getting off of him was completely different from any other time she had ever seen him. It was like she was looking at a whole new person.

Genesis was taller than her by more than half a foot. But then again, most men were. And for all that Sephiroth had most of the fans, Genesis was by no stretch of the imagination undeserving of the attention he received from the female populace. It must be the unusual combination of red hair and a lack of freckles that so often accompanied the hair color. Or the fact that he had a far prettier face than a man should.

 _The man's prettier than I am._ Rill thought with a touch of amusement in spite of herself. She swiftly raised her guard again.

But regardless, the ride up to the SOLDIER floor went by in silence. She waited for him to say something, anything. But when she threw a glance up at his face, he seemed to be at war with himself over something.

Whatever he had to say though, she had no intention to waiting for him to produce it. She made to head into the adjoined office that she shared with Sephiroth, but a hand caught her wrist in a surprisingly gentle grip.

"Wait a moment, please. There is something I must say to you." Rill looked back at Genesis. He was looking uncharacteristically serious. Not at all like the arrogant confidence that he usually gave off.

"And that would be, sir?" She inquired coolly, turning to face him, keenly aware that he had yet to let go of her wrist.

He seemed to struggle with his words for a breath before he began to speak.

"I want to apologize. I have not been fair to you. I know that. I know that there is little chance of you forgiving me after everything I've put you through." Rill felt her mind stall in complete shock. His altered demeanor was one thing. But having the proud man actually apologize was quite another. She knew that she looked surprised as she looked up at him, she was completely caught off guard.

"Is there any way I can make things right?"

Rill turned her wrist slightly and he promptly released it as she gathered her thoughts.

"Be civil whenever we interact. Nothing else is needed." A flash of impatience crossed his face along with some of his usual swagger.

"Civility is the bare minimum, Miss Thomas. It is what should have been happening. What else can I do?" Rill resisted her impulse to let her incredulity show on her face. What was with this guy? However...that attitude did seem familiar. It just wasn't him...

"...Are you channeling Commander Hewley?" The words slipped out before she could stop them and for a moment, they just stood in the hallway staring at each other in surprise. His brows rose as he regarded her with his slightly glowing eyes and a certain attentiveness that Rill had last seen in Rufus. _Abort! Abort! Retreat!_ She did not need another high executive becoming interested in her!

"I am." He was silent for a moment until a spark of humor lit in his gaze. "If you do not specify what you would have from me, Miss Thomas, you will leave me no choice but to begin guessing."

The Planet's cheeky empathic comment made Rill blush even as she saw a spark of mischief in Genesis' gaze.

"I already said what I would have from you, commander. Nothing more." She swiftly turned away and thanked all the gods she knew that he didn't follow her. She leaned against the closed door and tried in vain to scrub the blush from her face. Under normal circumstances, Genesis's persistent desire for some act to compensate for his misbehavior wouldn't have affected her anymore than Zack begging for mercy. But the Planet just couldn't keep its mouth shut! This it what it had said:

 _He likes you~_

 _Goddess damnit!_ She moaned mentally. _If this turns into a crush, I will never live it down..._

 _You gotta crush on who now?_

 _Damnit Aeris, not now! And not on my end!_

* * *

The entire building knew within the next day.

The war between Genesis and Nerilka was over. Or, more accurately, had transcended to another level.

Genesis had taken an abrupt about face in his attitude towards her. He would put down any insults that certain jealous women would spout. He would take obvious pleasure in complimenting her with people about to witness. He sought her out just for company. It was plain to everyone that the flamboyant commander was now very much interested in Nerilka. And not in a hostile manner.

Veld collected his winnings with some amusement.

The betting pool had sprung up among the Turks as to how this battle would resolve itself. Most thought Rill would ask for their assistance in making Genesis uncomfortable enough to leave her alone. Reno had said that she would ask for advice on how to kill someone with office supplies and how to dispose of a corpse.

"That would hardly be necessary, Reno." Rill's voice sounded from behind him, making the redhead flinch at the tone she was using. The 'I-sound-calm-but-I'm-rather-peeved-right-now' voice. He turned and was on the receiving end of one of her killer smiles. Literally.

"I already know all about that." She said sweetly.

Reno hastily went to Reeve to verify the contents of Rill's computer. Something like that would have to be traceable...

As it so happened, this brought about several days worth of entertainment.

Since Rill had gotten the SOLDIER department to such a high level of efficiency, comparatively speaking, she had a lot more free time on her hands than she had had before. Thus her imagination tended to wander towards...unusual channels that spoke very strongly of her long standing friendship with Tseng.

"Bossman, she's got five different ways to fake her own death and come away with a new identity!" The Turk didn't even look at Reno from where he stood, calmly shooting down the targets as they presented themselves.

"Did she work out the issue of smuggling herself across the mountains?"

"Inside a zolom transport! She's figured out a way to get inside a sealed zolom transport and get out alive. She's even got a tranquilizer formula strong enough to knock one of the damn things out!"

"Good for her, that one was giving her some trouble." Tseng reloaded his gun, inputting the new commands into the Virtual Reality training system for his next session. He didn't even look at Reno.

"Tseng, all of them would work! I read them and I haven't got a clue how she would pull it off, but they all make sense! Even the chocobo racer one!"

"Considering that Rill manages to keep up with and occasionally even get ahead of you and Zackery on a daily basis, is it so surprising that she can think of these schemes herself?" Reno went still for a moment, working through that piece of logic.

If Rill was capable of handling the random craziness that seemed to follow the SOLIDER program, specifically Zack, it wasn't that big of a surprise. Except...

"But if she can come up with all that cool stuff, why doesn't she ever help us out, yo?!" Tseng pointed his gun at Reno's head.

"Out."

"I'm going, I'm going!"

* * *

Reno poured through the files that he had downloaded from Rill's computer files with great interest.

She had compiled a history of all the pranks that he and Zack had ever pulled, as well as the crazy crap that Zack pulled while on a Mako high. She had an entire folder for creative uses of duct tape! It was titled "Why Reno may not access the Custodial Closet".

"Aw, she does care." Reno mumbled through a mouthful of ill-gotten pastries from Sephiroth's office.

In addition to Rill's various schemes that she had thought out, there were also several very creative ways that she had concocted as ways to potentially get herself fired without outright getting caught at selling secrets.

The file reloaded briefly as Rill added an update.

 _Duct taping a whoopie cushion to Palmer's backside._ Reno cackled. _Totally worth it!_ He had even managed to add a scent disperser to make it extra convincing.

His PHS buzzed then.

From: Rill

Sub: You're not sneaky

' _Sephiroth noticed the cookies. ETA, two minutes.'_

Reno wasted an entire 17 seconds of his 120 second head start gaping in disbelief.

* * *

"Seriously." Came a certain Turks' muffled voice from the air vent above Rill's head. "How do you do this?" Rill's upturned face was as serene and calm as Reno had ever seen it as she looked up at him.

"Good morning Reno. I see you'll be taking the covert routes today." Sephiroth had sworn that if he caught sight of the Turk that he would eviscerate him for coming near his cookies. As Reno had no desire to become further acquainted with Masamune than he already was, he was going to be taking great care to avoid the General today.

"That's not an answer, yo. You always know stuff that's gonna happen before it happens!" His eyes narrowed. "Are you psychic?" This earned him a laugh at least as she gathered up the files that needed to go to the Department of Administrative Research and handed then into the air vent.

"No, Reno." _Not technically..._

He was convinced that Rill had something that let her know that trouble was going to happen. Reno mused over the problem with a few covert drinks in his office. He had risked his hide, hair and dignity to steal back his Costan tequila from Shuriken and was downing the scorching liquor as he tried to think of what it was that was tickling the back of his mind whenever he saw Rill.

She was...a friend he supposed. Someone he trusted outside the Turks. But why whenever he looked at her did he get that little shudder of wary fear up his spine? It wasn't any real danger, just a vague memory or impression of towering rage and a she-demon with flashing blue eyes.

 _Rill has blue eyes._ He grinned. _And she's kinda pretty when she's not giving you her death stare...Nah, who am I kidding, she's pretty even then!_ If it wouldn't get his cookie privileges revoked entirely, Reno would probably join Commander Rhapsodos in his flirting. Watching Rill fume subtly was one of the most therapeutic things he had ever seen. He honestly did wonder what it would look like if she ever snapped.

"Reno, you and Rod are going to be on duty tomorrow." Rude reported from the doorway, bringing his colleague out of his thoughts. His face was expressionless as he was already well aware of his field partner's drinking habits. Reno absently acknowledged the orders with a salute with his shot glass. He was trying to think of some way that he could try and get Rill mad for fun without losing access to her baking...His thoughts performed an odd hop-skip as everything fell into place.

The last time he had been on guard duty with Rod, babysitting the rookie on the Ancient guard shift in the slums.

He had been drunk, so was Rod. (Bad call in hindsight since Veld hadn't been feeling merciful and locked him out of the fun field work indefinitely for the slip up.) Someone had come and turned them out of their guard post on their ear...

 _That was the time Zack managed to get himself Mini'd._

Reno was torn between flinching at the vicious throb of pain that the memory elicited and laughing at the ferocity that the unnamed woman had shown. She had been pissed! Her face carved out of fire and brimstone...her face...

He abruptly sat upright and began to pull up the files the company had on Rill. Specifically the photo of her without her glasses...


	9. Cracks in the mask

**A/N: Merry Christmas, friends! Sorry for the late update and short chapter. I figure it really wouldn't be in the spirit of the season to keep you all waiting any longer, so enjoy!**

* * *

The Planet sent a lithe shiver of warning down Rill's spine as she worked. There was no fear in this, just...a caution. For the first time ever, Rill was getting the distinct impression that she had to make preparations to leave Shinra without being followed. Seriously, this time.

Her mind spun as she tried to think of what might have caused this abrupt change.

The secretary sipped her cooling tea with a frown, briefly channeling her Fire Materia to delicately reheat the contents without burning her hand. The refreshed fragrance calmed her she inhaled deeply.

 _Spearmint, chamomile and lemon balm growing in the windowbox. The window was open to let in a draft of air from the garden that surrounded the house, freshened by the plants it passed over._

Her tiny apartment on Plate 3 was nice. But it was nothing compared to her cousin's house in the slums. That was home.

The office was quiet for the moment. But the building was tense. The three 1st Class SOLDIER were sparring together for the first time since Genesis and Angeal had returned and that was always a sight worth seeing. Thus, everyone who possibly could raced to the security offices to try and catch a glimpse of the three men in action. Naturally, Zack had come up with a scheme to charge admission to watch the SOLDIERS duel one another. Rill had decided to let this one go since A) There were much worse things that he could be doing, B) His presence was helping discourage some from abandoning their work, and C) He were keeping those who did enter somewhat organized.

Rill reached over to her own computer and deftly navigated past security to bring up the spectacle on her screen.

Angeal and Sephiroth were fighting at the moment, Genesis was sitting out and watching. From the way his mouth was moving, she expected he was making some commentary, but she didn't turn on the audio to find out. The men tended to make a lot of noise whenever they fought and she didn't want to damage her speakers. She kept her PHS out and ready to send a cancellation command to the Virtual Reality room that they were using, just in case they went overboard again.

Sephiroth had requested that she look in on their spars every now and then. He said it was to make sure that they didn't go too far, but she failed to see how she would be of any assistance. She didn't know what it would take to snap all three of them out of their adrenaline fueled battle, but it would almost certainly be more than just shutting off the simulation.

Rill briefly admired the way that the combatants fought. Angeal was more obviously forceful than his friend and wielded a basic broadsword, stabbing and moving in closer than most people ever wanted to be when fighting Sephiroth.

Sephiroth moved like some deadly predator in human form. Masamune, the Wutian odachi, was slightly longer than he was tall and looked unwieldy. But for all that, she could imagine it singing in its master's hand as it flashed through the air faster than seemed possible.

She could see why even not-combatants would want to see this. The pair moved so swiftly and confidently that it may as well have been a choreographed dance. One that Sephiroth was leading. Rill could see sweat gleaming on Angeal's brow from exertion and his breath coming just a fraction harder than his adversaries. In contrast, Sephiroth looked as if the fight had just begun, calm, certain, satisfied and unruffled.

 _How does his hair not get cut or damaged when they do this?_ Rill wondered, making a mental note to ask once he returned. Her own hair was just long enough to pull back into a professional looking knot on the back of her head. And it got in the way of things as simple as making breakfast in the morning if she didn't tie it back.

She observed the training for a few more moments, watching as Sephiroth disarmed Angeal and Genesis took his place, sliding into the fray without giving Sephiroth so much as a moment's respite. Angeal retrieved his sword and went to the side where Genesis had been watching and now he took up vigil.

Genesis's fighting style was as different from Sephiroth and Angeal's as their appearances were. Angeal was as relentless and direct as an avalanche charging down a mountain side. Sephiroth was like every dangerous predator known to man and then some in a man's body. Genesis was like a forest fire.

He seemed to be everywhere at once to her eyes, his crimson Rapier flickering with magic. He typically used it as a conduit to cast spells faster and more efficiently, interspersing swordsmanship with the magic skills that lauded him as the best in the world at materia use. He preferred Fire spells, using the brightness, heat and afterimages they caused to sneak feints at his opponent.

Red clashed with silver as Genesis did his best to land a single hit on Sephiroth. It hadn't happened so far as she had seen today. And from what she heard, it rarely happened at all. Sephiroth was just that skilled.

A blast of searing orange fire briefly obscured her vision, only to be countered with a blast of cold from Sephiroth, shards of ice flying towards the commander.

Rill shut off the live feed, turning back to her work with a sigh. Conventional magical combat was mostly about trying to overpower the opponent. And it was also very bright and flashy and in her opinion, tended to get repetitive to watch. They had power, but they rarely had much more finesse than a natural disaster. Even Genesis.

Her door opening made her look up with some surprise. She hadn't been expecting Reno to show up. But he did look oddly focused and intense as she came towards her.

"Reno?" He only reached out and snatched her glasses off her face and held them in front of his own eyes.

"No magnification or focus." He said finally. "You don't need glasses, you're just using them to make yourself look different." He looked at her straight on...then shuddered. "Goddess, it was you that knocked me and Rod around that one time!" Rill blinked up at him, mildly surprised that he had had the presence of mind to make that connection. She knew that denying it would only make her look suspicious so she merely shrugged.

"I'm not sure whether to be surprised that it took you this long to realize that, or impressed that you remembered at all. You were quite drunk."

Reno sank down onto one of her spare chairs, toying with her glasses, staring at her with disbelief.

"Damn...Rill, why do you where these things? You don't need them and you look better without them! With them you got the Ice Queen schtick down pat, but now..." He whistled appreciatively, gawking at her as if he had never seen her before. Which he hadn't really. She propped her chin in her hand, allowing a portion of her mask to slip as a smirk spread across her face.

"They're part of my cover, Reno. You honestly think a slum girl could make it in Shinra as a secretary and not be seen as a Honeybee? I need the glasses to make me look older and smarter than I actually am. I'll take those back please. I don't take them off for a reason." She held up a hand in silent question. The redhead shook his head, grinning.

"No way! You were even wearing these things at that bigwig dinner thing! I wanna see Seph's face when he see's you!"

"Reno, don't start. Give me back my glasses."

"No can do, babe! I've got some blackmail on you now! Ha!" Rill regarded Reno flatly...then when she spoke, it was in a completely different voice.

"You give me back my frames. Or you're in for a whipping next time you go under." She promised him in a flawless street accent.

Reno whistled.

"Sector 5? I had you pegged as a 3 girl!"

"You're dancing on a live wire, deadbeat. My frames, now."

"And pass up something this good!?" Rill sighed, opening her desk drawer.

"Alright, brownies privileges revoked."

"Wait, what?! Nononono!"

* * *

Rill had her glasses and her mask firmly back in place and Reno was out of the room. They would meet after work and she would explain in more detail what she was doing and why she had a cover with a personality that only vaguely resembled her real self.

She wasn't feeling...good about having to come clean to anyone who didn't already know. But she wasn't being told to avoid it at all costs either.

The door to Sephiroth's office slid open with a hiss. Her fingers tightened briefly on her mug as the now familiar voice drifted through her partially open door. Genesis had made himself a part of the daily routine. And while she was glad he was being civil to her, this...this wasn't what she wanted.

"Probably, but I doubt that would stop you." Sephiroth was just glad that Genesis had stopped insulting Rill. He still didn't know why the redhead had been so deadset against her. The flirting was much more in line with what he had expected from him.

Rill contemplated the air vent overhead and wondered if she could teleport herself inside it through sheer force of will. Despite the Science Department's best efforts, there was no known way of displacing matter safely with magic. Even plying her alternate sources for information on that regard hadn't gotten her anywhere.

And it was a moot point anyway, as Genesis was already in the room. " _'My friend, your desire, Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess.'_ "

And he quoted Loveless at her. Constantly. Rill was certain she probably could recite the whole thing from memory by now.

"Good day Commander." She said neutrally. How did one tell someone who was being sickeningly polite to go away without being rude? So long as he had been aggressive and she could hold the higher moral ground she could deal with him. But this...this wasn't something that should be possible given her relatively unapproachable persona.

"Surely we are past the formalities, by now? I asked you to call me Genesis." The man said pleasantly as he leaned against her desk, looming over her successfully. Rill wasn't tall. Looming was rather easy for just about any male over the age of fifteen or so.

"That you did, Commander." She acquiesced, taking another sip of her tea before glancing back at the daily emails that she had to sort through before forwarding them to Sephiroth.

He made a sound that could have been irritation, amusement or derision. Since she wasn't looking at him, she had no real way of judging.

 _You know you want to look...I bet his smile is nice...~_

 _Shut up, Aeris._ Rill bit out tersely. She wasn't making that mistake again. The commander did have a very nice smile and she hadn't been able to keep herself from blushing. Ergo, she could not afford to see it again when it was directed at her like that. Ever since Genesis began this campaign of his, Aeris had enjoyed taking every opportunity she could to tease her cousin about her admirer.

"So why not use it? It's not as though it's difficult to say." His tone was deliberately teasing. Rill wondered if being flirted with was always this awkward when you were attracted to the one doing it.

"It's hardly proper, sir."

"How so? You're Sephiroth's employee, not mine. There's nothing wrong with us being friends."

 _Except you and I both know that's not what you are doing so stop dancing around it and say it outright so I can turn you down! Again!_

Rill turned and looked at him then, really looked at him.

While it was true that there would be nothing wrong with befriending the man, the Planet was even crooning approvingly of the notion, there was that vision flickering before her eyes. That constant warning...

 _A romantic relationship would kill her cousin, her sister._

"Then leave it at friendship." Calling his bluff may have been risky for her since he could just as easily withdraw the offer and leave her to fall on her face. But even if he did that, it would get him to leave her alone and stop involving her in the damn newspaper gossip columns!

He looked surprised at her blatant challenge. She knew what he was angling for and was saying no, but leaving the route to friendship open and viable.

" _The wind sails over the water's surface, Quietly, but surely."_ He didn't seem to be aware that he said this aloud "...If that is what you wish, I will gladly comply." He said in a surprisingly soft tone. "I make no guarantees as to how my view may change."

 _You know what? I'll take it._ She decided with a weary resignation. _I'm not going to convince him to leave me alone altogether, so I'll quit while I'm ahead and roll with it. But...Well, friendship is two way._

"' _All that awaits you is a somber morrow, no matter where the winds may blow'._ " She quoted with a dry smile. _I'm not interested in your changes no matter what. But I suppose that this stage of our war has passed as well._

The man looked as though his birthday had come early. A wicked grin spread over his features.

"Might I occupy your attention this evening?" _That has to be one of the most roundabout, yet classy ways of asking someone out that I've ever heard._ She was spared from having to answer by Genesis's PHS ringing. He opened it with noticeable annoyance on his face.

"Unless there is a truly spectacular monster outbreak, you have just forfeited your right to life. Any last words?" _You're not subtle buddy._ Rill smothered an amused chuckle at his irritation. For all that he had...indicated that he would be calling himself back at her request, he clearly wasn't pleased that someone had interrupted his asking her out. For all that this would be a friendly outing. Strictly friendly. _I didn't know it's possible to threaten someone in a charming manner._ She pulled up the relevant information on her computer, knowing that for the sake of reaction time, they would probably have her brief him.

He would probably make a good friend, even if she knew that no doubt she would be subjected to a dozen different renditions of the play 'Loveless' and wish to burn his personal copy on sight.

She saw to her surprise that there weren't any significant outbreaks of sufficient scale to involve Genesis, so it was a personal call then. The Planet was hinting that relocating the payroll distribution to another floor temporarily would be...beneficial.

"Your timing is deplorable.." Genesis stated with open distaste. Then he almost visibly ground his teeth. "..It is something I would rather not wait on...Very well, I'll be there shortly." He abruptly hung up before turning back towards her, a large portion of his anger being pushed aside. "My apologies, short notice plans for the evening." She waved it off.

"Another day then, sir." _Friends or not, we're professional within this capacity._ He straightened with an elegant nod.

"I shall call on you presently then, Miss Thomas." She expected that to be that, but he swept up her hand and literally bowed over it, the flamboyant clown! " _'Even if the morrow is barren of promises, Nothing shall forestall my return.'_ " She sighed.

"I have a feeling that I shall regret displaying familiarity with that work." This earned her a smirk as the red-clad man swept out of the room, leaving her in contemplative silence for a minute or two before she began to make some calls to relocate an entire department.

Sephiroth peered at the partially closed door, having entered silently during their conversation, somewhat bemused and strangely...invested in what he had just heard.

* * *

Rill was actually rather interested in the materia fusion machine. She had heard stories about a Cetra process to achieve a similar goal, only it took much longer. And she had some ideas about what crossing certain combinations might get her...

Her experiments began with the crudest form of access short of brute force: Outright bribery.

She placed a basket on Tseng's desk with a smile that revealed nothing. The Turk opened it and released the scent of fresh baked goods into the room and the entire department went silent for an instant before there was a sudden rush of bodies towards the source.

"I want access to the Materia fusion machine without being supervised." Tseng considered for a moment, aware that more than a dozen pairs of expectant, hungry eyes were fixed on him. Tseng gave Rill a rare smile and jerked his head towards the room where the machine was. She smiled back in thanks before trotting off to do her work, leaving the fruits of her labors to be devoured in very short turn.

"Are those cinnamon rolls?"

"She made doughnuts!"

"I call dibs on the churros!" A backwards glance showed that Tseng had already absconded with a handful of the aforementioned cinnamony pastries, leaving the rest to be fought over. She shook her head as she went. _Put a basket of doughnuts and other goodies in the Department of Administrative Research, and you could probably get away with murder before the Turks got back to work._

But she was here on a rather different, less distasteful errand.

 _I always did want to know what happened when you cross a Sense materia with Fire..._

She slotted the materia into the machine carefully. In theory crossing a command materia, something that simply enhanced one's capabilities, with an ordinary magic materia would result simply in a stronger magic materia. Tiered materia was relatively common. You could buy it just about anywhere, but few people had the patience and stamina to get its strength up to higher levels. Thus, the Materia Fusion Machine. A quick, easy way to get more powerful materia for the army without the hassle of extra training time. But she had been listening to the Planet muse to itself in the garden earlier that week and it had gotten her to thinking about how she could hijack the machine's process and change her end result.

If she did it right, she just might manage to fuse two concepts, two sources of her ancestor's memories, to form a new one with a new purpose. The machine was fairly straightforward on the outside. Two slots for the materia that were to be combined and a thin tube marked with a radiation symbol. Mako, to provide the extra energy that was used to do the actual fusion. The secretary carefully pulled the Mako input tube out, after making sure there wasn't any extra of the semi toxic fluid left in it.

She input the command to begin the fusion, then clasped both hands around the Mako input and concentrated. Rill focused her mind on what she thought might be the outcome of this result...She felt her personal font of Lifestream trickle into the machine, felt it follow certain patterns, alter itself just so...

Then there was a sudden pull as much of her energy was forcibly sucked out of her, leaving a painful, disturbing void within her.

 _Oops._

Rill staggered and barely managed to keep her feet against the wave of weariness that suddenly slammed into her, but she quickly regained control of her output and kept at her work until her new materia was finished.

The result of the fusion was a surprisingly exhausted Rill holding a pale lavender materia in her hand. Considering she had started with one green and one yellow materia, this wasn't something her practical mind had expected. But it felt different than any of the materia she had ever handled before, synthetic Shinra creations. This one...this felt like an extension of herself. She slotted the materia into her bangle and began to channel a bit of her remaining energy into her creation.

The onslaught of sensory information stunned her. Everything looked different...her body was lit with various shades of red, yellow and orange. Only once she had a moment to process what she was seeing did she realize, with some delight, that she had just gained infrared vision. _Cool..._

Rill gazed around for some time, squinting as she saw the heat signatures of the Turks in the other room. She stopped channeling power through the materia and her sight returned to normal. She blinked and rubbed at the afterimages that flickered across her vision.

Downing a homebrewed ether was enough to put her back together enough to try her second intended experiment. This time Rill inserted another Sense materia and an Earth magic.

This one was even more exhausting, probably because she was proactively trying to follow the patterns she had felt during her first crafting. She could tell that it would take more than an ether to make her feel better. And that was before she slotted the new materia, a slightly darker, richer shade of purple than her first creation. Using this one brought on a completely different experience than her first one.

Her Infrared Materia was making use of her sight, something she already knew how to use and relied on. This...was something else entirely.

There were...ripples everywhere. She appeared to be... hearing something with her feet? Someone was moving just outside the door. And while she heard nothing with her ears, she could tell distinctly that someone was there by how they shifted their weight ever so slightly. She could even tell that it was Katana based on how he moved. How she could tell was beyond her, but it was without a doubt Katana. _Interesting._

Rill carefully replaced the Mako input, assessing her personal levels of power to gauge when she could experiment again. This was too fascinating and much too useful to leave at one attempt.


	10. Calamitous Happenings

**A/N: Time to kick things off!**

Getting used to having a literal sixth (seventh?!) sense was disconcerting and Rill found herself off balance almost constantly. She could detect vibrations much more keenly, which unfortunately meant that her hearing became much sharper when she had it slotted. Even if she wasn't using it actively, there was still a noticeable increase to her hearing sensitivity and range.

She winced as yet another explosion from the VR training simulator caused the lights to flicker.

 _Those three..._ Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal training together was an unfortunate necessity since no one else could possibly keep up with them. It was also where a significant portion of the SOLDIER budget went since they, almost without fail, destroyed whatever simulator they trained in. Angeal had informed her over the last few sessions together they had gotten increasingly...brutal. It always started out friendly, but would over time get more and more intent. More and more violent.

Genesis wouldn't say anything about what was going on and stated that it wasn't something he was willing to let go of.

Her attempts to defuse her boss amounted to nothing as well. He didn't know what was wrong, nor did he see much amiss with the way Genesis was fighting. He said that it was a good challenge and that he enjoyed it.

Rill pulled out a notebook and began to write out some more theories of potential combinations for materia fusion. She didn't want her speculations to be seized and used by the company so she didn't trust anything electronic. She eyed the list she had compiled. She had made experimenting with the fusion machine a habit over the course of the past few weeks, almost two months actually, and was reasonably certain she now had enough of an idea of the art of fusing that she could attempt to put some materia together without its aid. She had practiced on Infrared materia, creating multiple copies as she refined her technique and giving the spares she made to her friends among the Turks. They accepted the gifts without comment, but with great appreciation.

Her study of what else she might be able to fuse with interesting results was halted abruptly by a searing flash of pain from the Planet. Something big had just happened... someone important had been injured.

Rill closed her eyes and focused...

She had been getting more familiar with the various people that the Planet took special notice of. So after a few minutes, she had a firm grasp on who was hurt.

 _Genesis._ She turned to her computer and quickly made to pull up the camera feed only to get a burst of static. Her brow twitched. _Of all the days for me not to have checked...they overdid it again!_ The trio's reputation for destroying the sim room was unparalleled, though Zack was working his way up to that level. She had managed to avert the last five spars that had escalated to this level, but she wasn't infallible.

Rill rose, smoothing her features into her usual mask and went first to intercept Genesis on the way to the infirmary. She was halted by a text on her PHS from the man himself, asking her to heal him up.

She was torn between being flattered at his trust, and exasperated. He had little tolerance for some of the nurses... actually most of them since professionalism was not a requirement to work for the company. They would either make excuses to touch him or faint outright. Rill suspected that the fainting was as much from the blood as his presence, but far be it from her to tell Genesis that. He would be so disappointed...

She had gotten rather close with him over time. When he wanted to be someone's friend, he spared no expense. As far as she could tell, there wasn't anything romantic between them. Not from her certainly. But he, Tseng and Reno and very rarely Zack were the only people she was friends with outside of work.

 _Not even Sephiroth?_ Aeris's dubious question sounded. Rill considered it as she dug around her desk for the appropriate medical supplies to patch Genesis's wound and tried to think of some way to trick him into getting professional treatment instead of a simple slap up job from her.

 _No...not even Sephiroth._ She realized. _I'm not myself around him, Aeris. Not the same way..._ She was The Secretary when she interacted with him, usually anyway. He could sometimes glimpse her when she interacted with Reno and Zack, when she was outmaneuvering them or cleaning up after them. But he had never deliberately seen her actual self.

He didn't know Rill, the girl who liked to garden, who had a temper and a smart mouth. He only knew Nerilka, the perfect secretary who couldn't be shaken, and was always flawlessly polite.

Genesis entered her room with a thunderous scowl on his face, Rill pulled some clean gloves on and pushed her useless glasses onto her head to see things more clearly. He was favoring his left shoulder, and there was some blood in his shirt, although not an especially alarming amount for the powerful SOLDIER.

"Just that one injury?" She asked as he sat down on her desk heavily, mouth tight with pain.

"' _My friend, the fate's are cruel.'_ " She took that as an affirmative as she helped him out of his coat. His hand was glowing with his own Cure materia as he kept the blood from spurting out excessively.

"Well that's something." She mused, examining the jagged slash on his left shoulder, her own Cure materia lighting with energy as she took over the non-physical pressure to stop his bleeding. "Now if you would just go to someone who's actually qualified to treat you."

"You are more than qualified, Rill." He said in a voice that was anger slowly fading to weariness and frustration. "You're not even twitching at the sight of blood, and you're better and maintaining the pressure of magic than any of the nurses on staff."

"I've seen much worse." Rill said dryly, tracing the edges of the wound with a fingertip, trying to assess how much power she would have to use.

"I think any slum-rat could say the same, not just you." There was no bite or insult to his comment. Genesis had been surprised to find out where she came from, but he hadn't been judgmental about it. He hadn't even made some remark about how surprising it was that she was capable and educated.

"Maybe a handful out of ten." She mused, gathering up her concentration. "Could you get your shirt out of the way?" He responded by tearing it off completely with no apparent effort. "Not like that, you asshole!" She barked as he tossed the bloodstained fabric to the floor. He gave her a look that could be interpreted as a leer. She knew him well enough by now to be certain that he was messing with her.

"What's the matter Rill? Never seen a man without his shirt before?"

"At this point, it's more the question of which SOLDIER I haven't seen shirtless, Genesis. Honestly! You know how hard it is to get blood out of the carpet!" She scolded. "You're not the only one who turns my office into a rest stop or a med station." Most of the 2nd Class had stopped by once in a while to take a moment for themselves in her office since it was the only place where they were guaranteed a few moments peace. Sephiroth's cookie stash had suffered horribly within the first week of their beginning this practice and his unholy wrath had stopped all but the bravest, or the most foolish from continuing to do so.

That meant, of course, Genesis and Zack. Reno raiding the stash was a given, and accounted for in her plans.

The med station part had come after she had needed to patch up her favorite infantryman again, as well as a 3rd Class who had defended him from the bullies. Ever since then, she could expect at least one trooper to drop by every few days with a broken nose, split lip, or training wound of some kind.

" _You don't ask questions."_ Cloud had once said by way of explanation. " _You don't need to. You just fix us up, you don't take forever about it and tell us to be more careful!"_

Rill breathed out, bringing her power to bear on the wound and setting to work on healing his wound.

Instantly, she could tell that something was wrong.

She had healed before. And was she good at it. All things magical came to her and Aeris naturally. In her experience, she had come across some wounds that didn't want to be closed. Generally, that meant that the patient's own emotions were interfering with her magic.

 _It can't be pride._ She thought, brow furrowing. _Genesis is vain. He hates getting scars that mess up his appearance._ Rill drew up still more magic power through the materia, coaxing the edges of the wound closed. They twitched and writhed, resisting her commands. She had only closed a fraction of the wound when Genesis gave a grunt of obvious pain and she withdrew slightly, glancing up at him to check that he wanted her to continue.

His SOLDIER blue eyes softened at her wordless query and he lifted a hand to tug at a lock of her brown hair that had fallen free from it's knot.

"I'm fine, Rill." She still withdrew all but the bare minimum of pressure and handed him some high grade painkillers, specially made for SOLDIER.

"No you're not. I'm not doing more until you're medicated." He took the pills without a word, sitting still for a moment as he felt the numbness rush through him.

"It's deep, but it's only a flesh wound..." He muttered dazedly. "Why's it giving you this much trouble?"

"Why indeed...?" Rill mused, examining the injury yet again. She had healed worse than this in a trice. The cut was ugly, jagged and extended for a few inches down his collarbone, but other than that, it was clean and not even an hour old. There shouldn't be any infection to burn out, so what was...

"What caused this?" She asked Genesis suddenly, seizing the possibility. _If there is an infection from whatever hurt him, I might need a Heal, not just an Esuna._

"Angeal's broadsword shattered. Piece of shrapnel." He answered, gaze focused on some point of the far wall and nowhere near her.

 _Well so much for that._ Rill thought, frowning. _Angeal keeps all of his weapons spotless. Hades, it's why he doesn't even use his Buster Sword except for the most severe fights! But still, something's wrong. Better check._ She picked up the appropriate materia, reluctantly unslotting her Infrared materia to make room for it in her bangle. Genesis was so out of it, he didn't question the purple sphere that she slipped into her pocket.

But what she got when she powered up the Heal...

 ** _STOPOUTMINEOUTKILLYOU!_**

Aggressive mental claws ripped at her mind, doing their utmost to do her harm. This was worse than any poison, venom or disease she had ever encountered and she let out a low hiss. This drew his attention back to her.

"What's wrong?" She resisted the urge to flee from the pain and persevered in her defense.

"Nothing with me...Goddess above, what is this injury? I'm trying to clean it and it's-!" She shook her head as a new assault rose to crash into her.

"Rill?" She gritted her teeth and fought through the pain and the resistance to continue forward, step by slow step.

"This...is probably going to hurt." She had found something in him that was loath to let go. A dark, festering poison that she had never noticed in him before. "I think you must have picked up a secondary infection of some kind last time you were in the field." She ground out, bearing down with all the force she could muster, deliberately squeezing the infection free from inside him. Dark, unhealthy looking pus seeped from the wound and he gave a strangled cry of pain, his hands gripping the edge of her desk so tightly she heard the wood creak. She snatched up a towel and mopped it away even as she sealed up the wound bit by bit with what little energy she had left after the intense cleansing. Her mind felt like it had been flayed then had vinegar poured over it, she couldn't imagine what Genesis was feeling in reaction.

"Nonsensh. I...I haven't been... deployed in... monshs." He struggled to form the words with the potent medication clouding his mind.

Rill examined the darkly stained towel in her hands, every fibre of her being straining away from the mere thought of it's presence.

 _Wrongwrongwrong!_

The Planet was outright cringing at the sight of it. This wasn't just some kind of virus or bacteria, this was something that was in complete and total violation of the laws of nature.

"Well either way, you need to get that looked into." She examined the raw skin on his shoulder, running a finger over the prominent, very new scar gingerly to check for any gaps in the seal she had managed to put on it. "I don't think I can get all of the infection out. And whatever it is, it is _bad_ news."

* * *

Rill was exhausted by the end of the day. As soon Genesis had left the room, she had pulled out the reinforced wastepaper basket and flung the contaminated towels into it before setting it on fire with as much power as she could throw at it. She watched the blaze with a sinking feeling in her stomach as she stood, worried and terrified at what she had just been in contact with. _Bad. Badbadbadbadbad!_ The constant blaring warnings in her mind had finally drawn Aeris around to inquire what had occurred to upset the Planet so.

Upon explaining, Aeris had gone quiet for several long moments...

 _I think..we need to look at this more closely, Rill. Together..._ Rill had almost choked at the paralyzing fear that her cousin was feeling.

 _Aeris, what's wrong?_

 _That...that's what's wrong...Rill, humans are the original children of the Planet. Our ancestors came here as refugees and soon became the Planet's voice when their power merged with that of the natives. Their power, the materia, should be the cause all and end all. I've never encountered any injury that couldn't be healed with materia. There isn't anything in this world, **from** this world that should elicit that kind of resistance, let alone attack the healer. _A cold chill raced down Rill's spine.

 _So...if there something in Genesis that is resistant and hostile to us..._ She instantly felt sick. _Could it be the Calamity...?_

... _I don't know._ Aeris admitted. _Either way, it can't be good for your friend. We need to figure out what it is for certain, and how to heal him. If it is the Calamity..._

 _Then I've just as good as told it that there still are some of us alive._ They knew next to nothing about the Calamity, just a few vague memories and hints received from the Planet. Those memories indicated that the Calamity could receive information from even the smallest part of itself. There couldn't be more than a few cells of it in the black pus she had forced out of Genesis' body. But... Rill sat at her desk, pale faced and horrified at what she might have done. Guilt, terror and panic gnawed at her composure, straining at her to break free and scream. But all she could do was sit, motionless and not...not do anything.

 _Deep breaths, Rill. This isn't your fault._ Aeris soothed, reaching out and enveloping her foster sister and cousin in a warm embrace. _You were trying to help your friend, There is nothing wrong with that._

"Rill, are you alright?" Silver swam before her eyes as Rill focused on Sephiroth's face. _When did he get here...?_ The concern she felt from him was practically radiating off of him in waves.

"I'm not feeling well, sir, that's all. It'll pass." He pressed a hand to her her forehead after pulling off one of his dark gloves. Rill resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _You are such a mother hen sometimes._ "Really, I'm all-"

"You're pale as a sheet, shaking, and have missed three calls." She blinked, looking at her answering machine with some surprise.

"Oh...I'm sorry, sir. I'll just-"

"Take a sick day, go home and rest? That's an excellent idea." She was gently set on her feet by the man who had already gotten her purse and was guiding her towards the door before she realized what had happened.

"Sir, I'll be fine."

"You know, it was recently explained to me what 'fine' means when a woman says it?" Sephiroth said in a conversational tone.

"And what would that be, sir?"

"'I'm frantic, insecure, neurotic and emotional'." This made her release a soft laugh.

"All very true, sir." Her head spun as she tried to move faster than a shuffle and she hastily caught herself before she fell over. But from the hand that was suddenly on her shoulder, he hadn't missed it.

"Rill, you look like you're about to pass out."

"I am endeavouring not to do so." She heard herself reply faintly. She did feel sick and as though her body wasn't quite her won anymore... _Did I touch any of the pus with my bare skin? I don't think I did...But...it's possible._ The room was spinning faster and faster, swirling in a sickening manner.

She heard her boss sigh.

"Then...Please forgive me for doing this." She was about to ask what for when she felt something wash over her mind and encourage her to fall asleep. "You need the rest..." _Materia...He's using a Sleep materia on me._ Usually, her instincts, honed by a rough street life, would be screaming at her and force her to remain lucid. But there was only a complete trust and feeling of safety as Rill felt the world vanish and the bliss of oblivion overtake her.

* * *

Sephiroth caught Rill as she fell and lifted her easily. He flicked open his phone to call Lazard

" _Director Lazard."_

"This is Sephiroth, director. I need time off."

" _How much time, General?"_ Sephiroth looked down at the sleeping woman in his arms.

"Indefinite." There came a low curse from the other end of the line.

" _First you and the other two tear up the new sim-room, now you're asking for time off?"_ Sephiroth's voice was cold as he replied.

"I am not asking, Director. This is not a request. I am merely going through the proper channels to ensure no one kicks off a manhunt when I do not appear for the next day or two. I don't know how long I will be preoccupied, but rest assured, this is an emergency."

The man sighed on the other end of the line.

" _Alright, I'll just call Nerilka-"_

"She is sick." Sephiroth interrupted tersely. "Pale, shaking, disoriented." He quickly felt her forehead before adding: "And she is definitely running a fever. Hence, why I need time off." Lazard made a strangled sort of sound.

" _You're taking time off...to take care of Nerilka...Meaning that neither one of you will present for work today, or tomorrow."_ The man's horror was both palpable and understandable, but somehow...the general didn't really care.

"As long as it takes." Sephiroth corrected before hanging up. The sheer wrongness of Rill not being up, capable of and healthy was rubbing him that wrong way. He had a feeling that anyone trying to take her from him before he was ready to let her go would get threatened with Masamune.

She had called him out on his overprotective behavior before. Such as the last time she had come down to the sim-room to break up an intense match between himself and Genesis when they hadn't stopped once she shut down the simulation. A stray fireball had missed her by inches and Sephiroth had almost torn the room apart to assure himself that she wasn't hurt. Genesis hadn't been much better, all of his aggression having vanished in a heartbeat in his ardor to assure himself that she was unharmed.

Out of all the people he was closest to, Rill was the only unenhanced human. She couldn't fight, for all she was remarkably adept at magic and braver than most of the SOLDIERs on the payroll. A blow he could shrug off with a derisive laugh would kill her! She was vulnerable in a way Angeal and Genesis weren't, for all that she had never seen combat. It weighed heavily on his mind ever since he realized how fond of her he had become.

He was at somewhat of a loss of what to do now though. He didn't have a clue what being sick was like, it had never happened to him.

 _Emotional support and physical comfort._ He recalled Rill saying that after she visited Zack when he had been feeling under the weather. _Those are the things that aid recovery._ Taking Rill home seemed to be the best option for that. Comfortable, familiar surroundings. But didn't she mention she had family? She never said where they were from, but she did have some.

He needed more information.

So he called Tseng.

" _Tseng._ "

"Rill has fallen ill. Where do her relatives live?" Sephiroth heard only silence for a moment on the other end.

" _...Take Rill home, I'll see to it someone comes by."_

* * *

He had been to Rill's apartment before when she had blithely bribed Zack with food to behave himself during his Mako high. The food was excellent and while her home wasn't extensive, it was neatly kept and comfortable. What had amazed and intrigued him were the multitude of plants she had scattered about her rooms. In pots at the windows and on the kitchen counters, several hanging boxes on her balcony, including a collection of herbs that she used to make her own tea.

However, the novelty of green, flourishing plants in Midgar was really a rather low priority right now. In hindsight, marching out of the building in broad daylight with an unconscious woman in his arms hadn't been the smartest thing he had ever done. Especially since Rill was still upset from the publicity she had gotten at the state dinner. _Take care of that later._ He dismissed. _Rill first._ She was much more important than public opinion or gossip.

He put her to bed, made her comfortable and watched over her, unsure of what else to do. Thankfully, it wasn't long until Tseng arrived with the promised help.

The maternal looking woman didn't even blink upon seeing him in Rill's apartment, just went over to the younger girl and checked her temperature.

"What symptoms did she show and why is she under a Sleep spell?" She asked him sharply. Sephiroth was somewhat taken aback at the familiarity of her businesslike tone. Her dark brown hair was pulled back and there was a gleam of worry in her rather familiar blue eyes.

 _Some relation of Rill's then._ He glanced at Tseng for some verification and the man nodded.

"This is Elmyra Gainsborough, Nerilka's aunt." With their pronounced similarity, Sephiroth had been all but certain the woman was his secretary's mother.

"She was disoriented, feverish and seemed unaware of her surroundings. As for the Sleep spell, she was trying to convince me that she could return here without aid, even though she admitted that she was having trouble remaining conscious." His voice was very dry. "This was the simplest, swiftest and most painless solution." The woman gave a short laugh that sounded genuine.

"That does sound like her. My stubborn girl would insist that she was alright if she had lost a limb or gotten a concussion." There sounded like there was a story behind this, one that he really wanted to know. Sephiroth got the impression that despite being her aunt, Elmyra was much more Rill's mother than anything else. And that alone made him soften towards the stranger.

"Thank you for bringing her here, General." Elmyra stroked her nieces forehead tenderly. "Rill gets so caught up in looking after others that she tends to forget that she needs taking care of as well." That was exactly what she did. Day in, day out. Sephiroth smiled as he looked at the unconscious young woman, looking much softer and more innocent without her glasses.

"I'm happy to help, ma'am."

* * *

Elmyra looked at the imposing man with a shrewd eye.

His reputation aside, she knew from Rill that the man was actually very thoughtful, if socially awkward in some scenarios. But she had never had any complaints about his behavior, intentions or honor.

And the look that he was giving her sleeping niece made her maternal instincts for the girl very happy.

 _He's half in love with her and probably doesn't even realize it. But why is that? Maybe he doesn't recognize what he's feeling?_ She considered him for a moment.

"Honestly, I've been expecting something like this for months now. Rill always tries to overwork herself. Now, I have some work to do if Rill's going to make a good recovery. Thank you again for bringing her back here. I won't take any more of you time." _And how will you react to this...?_

Impossibly colored green eyes met hers with a mixture of offended indignation and bewilderment at her implication of his departure.

"If you don't mind, ma'am...I'd rather stay." He suddenly seemed the tiniest bit embarrassed. "It...doesn't sit well with me that Rill got to be in this state while under my care." Well then...that clarified some things. _So it's that he doesn't know what he's feeling, just that he cares for her. Well, whether or not this develops, it will be very good for her to have another friend._

The slum-mother gave him a wide, warm smile.

"I think I can find something for you to do, General."

"Sephiroth, ma'am."

"Elmyra, or Auntie. First of all, might I suggest a change of clothing? Leather may look impressive, but it is not very good for tending the sick." That and with a little luck, seeing this admittedly handsome specimen of a man in casual attire might just throw Rill for enough of a loop that she would say some entertaining things while delirious. It was far too early to expect grandchildren, or even hope for them, really. But a mother could dream and there was so little that she could use to tease Rill nowadays...


	11. Family Affairs

Rill's dreams were a confusing haze of fear and half formed memories that the Planet was pushing on her. Interspersed with these though were brief moments when she saw her aunt and heard...someone else...

She sought in vain for the Planet's knowledge, trying to determine who the other presence was. It wasn't Aeris. Her cousin would always intercept her and gently tell her to rest, usually with a magical suggestion that sent her right back into dreamland.

It took an indefinite amount of sporadic rest and discomfort before she felt somewhat steady enough to try and remain awake. She had no idea how long she had been asleep. For once, the dim light of her room didn't send needles of pain into her consciousness so Rill gave sitting up a try.

Her mouth tasted horrible and she reflexively grabbed for the glass of water she kept on her night table. Her knuckles found it instead of her fingers and she felt it slide of the table. _Aw Hades..._ Trying to clean up a broken glass with her head still spinning was not an appealing prospect.

 _Wait..._ The last thing she knew, she was still at work.

She hadn't heard the glass break, or water spill.

Rill forced her eyes open and tried to focus. Silver swam before her vision briefly before solidifying into-

"Sephiroth!" She jerked in surprise, eyes widening. _My boss is in my apartment. What is my boss doing in my apartment? More importantly, what is he doing in my room!?_ He was just sitting there in a chair by her bed. Wearing civilian clothing and without Masamune in sight. Dark long sleeved t-shirt and jeans, not a bit of leather in sight. He still had a fully stocked bangle on his upper bicep, but she had never seen him like this before. Even when he wasn't wearing his combat leathers at work, he would be wearing semi dressy attire, button shirt and so one, even if he never wore a tie. _The Silver Elite is either going to have a collective aneurysm at the thought, or lynch me for dethroning their god of stylish black leather. Or both. I'm not sure which._

The man smiled and offered her the glass that he had evidently caught as she knocked it down.

"Good morning, Rill." She clamored inside her head for a moment, trying to gather some semblance of composure- "It's been three days, you've been running a dangerously high fever the entire time, and you talk in your sleep when delirious." _Well so much for composure._

Sephiroth's expression was balanced on a delicate edge between worry, anger and amusement. A situation that demanded instant attention and mitigation just as soon as she could collect herself-

 _Ah screw it._ Her embarrassment was too strong.

Rill let herself fall back and grabbed a pillow to put over her face in attempt to smother herself. She heard a laugh from the man.

"Elmyra, she's trying to kill herself." _Sephiroth met my aunt and is now familiar enough with her to call her by name..._

"I warned you not to bet against a mother's instinct, Sephiroth." Came a teasing call in answer. _And she's using the mock-mom voice on him. How much did I miss?_

She felt him try to remove the pillow from her face, to which she grumbled and held onto it more firmly. She was already embarrassed half to death. Clearly, some god conspiring to make her die of shame was in control here. There was no need to make the situation worse by letting herself live long enough for more chagrin to be heaped on her. She'd just finish the job for him, nice and quiet suffocation...

"Rill, let go of the pillow and drink some water." Sephiroth said patiently. _You heard me sleep talking and only the Goddess herself knows what I say when I'm just tired. Adding fever hallucinations to that must only have made it worse._

"Nerilka Thomas." Elmyra's voice was amused as it sounded from the door to her bedroom. "The good general has done his utmost to take care of you for the last few days. Don't go scorning his courtesy by trying to do yourself in."

* * *

After Rill was stopped from killing herself to spare herself further embarrassment, she got a firmer grasp on what had transpired.

She was slightly irritated that Sephiroth had resorted to magic to get her cooperation. But considering that he had her aunt's full approval and support for her actions, she knew that was a losing battle.

Her fever aside, she had come down with a dark rash on her left arm and shoulder that had required Aeris's skills to contain and heal. She hadn't let anyone touch it, nor called a doctor. Rill knew that from her cousin's single glance that this was something they would have to discuss at great length later.

"In addition to terrifying me and Aeris out of our skins, you worried that poor man half to death." Elmyra scolded Rill, having not stopped for the last half an hour as Rill cleaned herself up after a blessedly refreshing shower.

"I didn't think it was possible for him to worry." She said a little sarcastically. Sephiroth's worry was a thing of sidelong glances and close attention, not nearly enough emotional investment for what Elmyra was describing.

"You better believe that it is, young lady. The man refused to leave your side." Rill froze, still in the process of towel drying her hair. _He what?_

"Come again, Auntie, I don't think I heard you right." She said weakly. Her secretary persona wasn't disapproving of his having stayed with her. Far from it, she was flattered. She was just making a tally of all the backlog of paperwork that must be waiting for them if both of them were absent...The mere thought was almost enough to make her wish she was still sick.

"He carried you here himself, refused to leave when I told him to, and did everything he could to help you get better." Elmyra repeated, a smile fighting through her frown. "The man even slept on your couch instead of going home." Rill failed to fight off the intense blush on her face at the evidence of how much her boss cared about her. He didn't even know her...Though that was probably no longer true, given the proximity in which he had been to Elmyra.

"I see that blush young lady." The older woman's eyes glittered as she poked her scarlet cheek. "Have you been hiding something from your auntie? Something about a certain handsome man that I should-"

"Gah! Aunt Elmyra, no!" She squawked, batting her hand away. "I had no idea he would do that for me! I'm flattered and touched that he would, let alone that he actually did, but...no!" Her stance on romantic relationships aside, he was her boss! There was everything wrong with getting into that can of worms with him!

The matronly woman pursed her lips, brows raised skeptically.

"Really? I know you, dear. This is exactly the kind of thing that would make you lose your heart to someone. Why so adamant?" Rill groaned, hiding her face with her towel.

"It's not something I want to think about right now. I have a job to do and I'm too young!"

"Age is a number, Rill. For some more so than others." She said dryly. "With Aeris, she's enough of a romantic for me to be worried about this kind of thing. But with you? I talked to Sephiroth, and it doesn't seem to make much difference to him now that he knows. Most of the company thinks you are in your mid twenties at the earliest. He was amazed to hear you're only seventeen, but it doesn't change the fact that you've vastly improved his life with your work. Apparently he wouldn't be able to do even a fraction of the work you do when he was that age." Rill chuckled briefly.

"I trust you also realized that Sephiroth tends to downplay almost every skill he has besides anything to do with combat or the military?"

"Well, he memorized every recipe I made with him in the same house, with him only seeing about half of what I was doing, recognized several herbs from the tea you make him by scent alone and calculated your body mass index for medication in his head without actually taking your measurements and weight. Yes, I do believe you now when you say he walks a fine line between perfect genius and blind stupidity."

"I did not say that..."

"It was what you meant, dear."

* * *

Rill felt as if she was hallucinating a bit as Elmyra easily interacted with Sephiroth through her apartment, casually and comfortably. For all the world, she was treating Sephiroth the same amount of affection, discipline and authority that she used with her and Aeris. She was treating Sephiroth as if he was her child, an adult, but her child nonetheless. Sephiroth in turn seemed to grow warmer, and transform before her very eyes. She knew that the absence of parents in his life had made him different, but she hadn't realized just how potently he had felt the absence of a mother until she saw him respond so wholeheartedly to Elmyra's affection.

But what was making the whole thing so surreal was the fact that the Planet was singing it's approval of this course. Literally. Calm, joyful music was resonating through her mind as she watched this. Aeris, working alongside her mother, shot Rill a smile that said she heard and felt the same thing.

 _It's good...Merciful Mother Goddess, Rill this is very, very good!_

 _I got that, funnily enough._ She replied a little testily. Now that she was a feeling a little better, Rill was faced with a dilemma.

Sephiroth had met her family, had seen her all but boiling with fever which in her experience wasn't a good look on anyone, and had heard her talk in her sleep. Professionalism was pretty much dead after all this. So how did she interact with him now?

Shaking off the question, Rill perused her phone to see what updates she had on the current work schedule, what would have to be done when they returned to work. And to check her texts...

As she expected the backlog of messages and missed calls on her PHS all but filled her memory. Most of them were from Zack. The first twenty or so random messages were his usual fair, funny scenes or pictures that he came across or whatever he was thinking about right now. It took him a few hours to realize that she wasn't answering and then he started to get worried and then to panic.

Rill held in her laughter as she read the increasingly wild theories and questions Zack fired off via the messaging system to try and exasperate her into responding.

From: Zack

Sub: Please answer...?

 _Did you get kidnapped?!_

From: Zack

Sub: Please answer...?

 _Do I get to come and rescue you?!_

From: Zack

Sub: Your hero is coming!

 _OK, is it from a bunch of monsters or from some moron who doesn't know how to moderate!?_

From: Zack

Sub: Pause.

 _Wait...I just thought I heard you laughing at me. Or...that thing that you do that isn't actually laughing. How do you do that? I just end up sounding like a pig with the hiccups!_

From: Zack

Sub: Srsly, getting worried...!

 _Where are you? I can't find you anywhere. Even Dark Nation can't find you!_

From: Zack

Sub: Minor detail

 _Um...I may have sold my soul to the VP to borrow Dark Nation at all, but you can get it back for me right?_

Rill chuckled as she read through the messages from Zack, each growing increasingly more wild and worried. _You are an adorable dork of a puppy dog._ She thought candidly. She switched over to see who else had texted her.

There were some notes from Reno, far less than Zack. He was normal at first, random pictures or requests for help.

From: Reno

Sub: Save me Rill!

 _Uh, not sure what I did to annoy him, but the VP's checking one way flight to the south pole and installing bear traps around his office and booking me for interviews over the next few days. Help?_

She wrote her startling lack of concern off as still feeling under the weather and ignored the message after a moment's contemplation as to what the scenario would likely become.

She moved on to the next contact, raising her brows in surprise when there were some messages from Rufus himself.

From: Vice President

Sub: Take care of yourself

 _You're too useful to break down. A week of mandatory vacation, at least. Attempt to return to work without some evidence of sufficient relaxation will result in more strenuous relaxation, with personal supervision._

Rufus was telling her to chill out. If she was back before Monday in about two weeks time, he would hijack more of her time and force her to go on vacation with him. Given as to she had spent many very content weeks with minimal contact with the man, Rill didn't want to let him start working on her again. So she would have to accept the time off.

But underneath that threat, and that's what it was, was his still present vested interest in having her on his side. He was already acting as if she was his responsibility to care for. Her anger at him had cooled slightly so she could accept this turn of events with some amount of grace instead of indignation.

The next messages were from Cloud and Angeal, both wishing her a swift recovery. She smiled fondly, blessing the ingrained manners and courtesy that was so readily prevalent in country born men.

Then Rill noticed that while Zack had sent her the most messages, Genesis hadn't been slack as well.

He had apparently heard that she was indisposed verbally because he didn't ask if she was alright, but rather skipped straight to being angry.

From: Drama King

Sub: Idiot woman

 _You were sick. You were ill to the point where someone had to carry you home. After you healed me. My comfort isn't the priority, Rill. If you couldn't spare the energy, you should have told me! Once I find you, we will be talking about this, make no mistake._

From: Drama King

Sub: Not fair

 _Why don't I know where you live, but everyone in the Turks knows?_

From: Drama King

Sub: Really not fair.

 _Even Angeal's Puppy knows! This is outrageous._

Her very faint feelings of guilt for not informing Genesis about this were cut off by another burst of delighted song from the Planet. Rill looked up and saw that Sephiroth had managed to sneak a taste from whatever Elmyra was cooking and was being scolded while Aeris laughed delightedly at the sight.

"General Sephiroth! For shame! Were you raised in a barn?! Could you not wait for another few minutes? It's almost ready."

The secretary shook her head slightly and tried to get up and move to her small table only to be fixated by three different pairs of eyes in varying shades of green and blue.

"Calm down, I'm not going to collapse!" She said, exasperate, persisting in her efforts. Sephiroth moved over to her and assisted her in rising.

"Correct. I won't let you." And though she was loath to admit that she actually needed the help, she realized very abruptly that she was leaning on him for a good bit of support. Rill glared briefly at Aeris, who was torn between laughing and cooing.

 _Insufferable romantic._

 _Heartless Ice Queen._ Her cousin replied without a beat of hesitation, eyes dancing mischievously. Rill rolled her eyes and gave a quiet grumble. Sephiroth seemed to catch on that some form of communication had occurred and looked between the two of them curiously.

"Do you always do that?"

"Never mind that, Sephiroth." Elmyra said smoothly. "Aeris and Rill have always been able to all but read each other's minds. They were practically joined at the hip when they were younger and haven't changed much since then."

Before Rill reached the table, there came a knock at her door. A firm, precise rap that gave her pause as the Planet hummed like a plucked harp string. Someone important was outside the door. Rill carefully moved for the door, glad that Sephiroth was letting her walk unaided. Now that she was on her feet, it was much easier to move and walk.

She didn't bother checking the peephole. There were three different Turks on this floor since Aeris had insisted on coming above the plate to see her. There was a churros chance in the SOLDIER barracks that they would let anyone even remotely suspicious through.

So she had no time to prepare herself when she opened the door to reveal Genesis, remarkably calm and contained, with a bound and gagged Zack slung over his shoulder.

She simply stared at him with some surprise even as Zack made a happy sound and started to writhe in his captor's grasp.

"...What did you have that could actually restrain him effectively?" Genesis put Zack down easily as if he hadn't been easily toting a person his size and weight.

"Turk handcuffs." He replied before stepping forward and enveloping her in a hug, another thing that astounded her. He had kissed her hand, or knuckles, but he had never initiated touch before.

Her faint flush was more than just lingering fever. Genesis was a good bit taller than she was and gave the impression that he was wrapping himself around her and it made her feel warm and safe.

A faint giggle in the back of her mind made Rill abruptly choke off that line of thought.

"Don't push yourself that hard for my sake again." He told her in a low voice as he held her. "I don't what I'd do with myself if you got hurt..." _What is it with these people and their excessive shows of affection and worry? Almost as if they liked me._ Snark and sentiment aside, Genesis admitting to worrying about her to her face was something she had never thought she'd see. Rill returned the embrace gently, careful of the wound that she still knew had to be there. He probably hadn't gone to any secondary authority so it would still be a little tender even after she healed it.

"I'm alright Genesis." She soothed, stepping back out of his hold after a few more seconds. No need to give Elmyra more ammunition about her nonexistent love life.

Zack had by this point managed to wriggle to his feet and lunge at her himself. Genesis however acted quickly and pulled her out of the way as the younger SOLDIER tripped and went tumbling head over heels into Rill's apartment. She sighed and let a low laugh emerge that gradually grew louder.

"Zack, you are definitely one of a kind. And everyone in Shinra is very glad that you are." She absently patted Genesis' arm in thanks as she moved to examine the cuffs that Genesis had managed to get onto the irrepressible young man. "I don't suppose you brought the key with you?"

"One of the Turks has it." He said confidently, leaning against her doorframe with a smile that she couldn't suite read.

"Rill dear, what was that racket?" Elmyra asked, leaning into the hallway. "Goodness, what happened to him?"

"Textbook case of an excess of enthusiasm, auntie." Rill replied cheerfully. Calling whoever had the key would just be waste of time and she needed to practice her slum skills. "Aeris, could you get my picks?"

"You pick locks?" Sephiroth's incredulity was well founded given her reputation. But Rill had decided that after everything she had seen him do, and what he had seen in the last three days, she could and would call Sephiroth a friend and that meant knowing about her past and the skills she had learned from it.

Rill noticed right away though that the moment Sephiroth's voice sounded from inside her apartment, Genesis's relaxed stance tensed up and his eyes narrowed. _Oh yeah. Bad sparring match. Don't know if they've made up yet._ She really hoped that they did. Sephiroth and Genesis might disagree and clash sometimes, a lot actually given their distinct personalities, but they really were good friends.

"I'm a slum kid. We all do it at one point or another."

"I never have!" Aeris called from deeper inside. Zack was looking at Elmyra with some bemusement and tilted his head to listen to Aeris with evident confusion.

"That's because you persuade people to give you whatever you want anyway!" Rill quipped back. Elmyra had entered the hall and was helping Zack up.

"Would you like to invite your friends in, Rill? There's enough for everyone."

"That's very kind of you." Genesis said in a strangely polite tone. "But Zack and I don't want to impose." He reached over and hauled the still tied 2nd Class out the door. He then called into the apartment.

"Sephiroth, next time you decide to take a spontaneous vacation, a little warning would be appreciated." The General entered the hall behind Rill with a completely unrepentant expression that was definitely mocking his friend.

"Wasn't it you who said you wanted to be in my place? Not that enjoyable in the long run." Rill heard that there was something else going on in this brief exchange. The Planet was vibrating with tension, everything was balanced on a razor's edge.

"So I've learned." Genesis replied with the barest hint of a smile. He turned to Rill with raised brows. "I'd be more than glad to accept lunch with you some other time. But duty calls." She nodded, smiling at him fondly.

"Thank you for stopping by." She looked at Zack who was struggling madly in his cuffs again, clearly complaining about something, but he was struggling in vain, trying to turn around and hop back inside but Genesis was having none of that. Most likely the fact that he didn't get to stay for lunch. "If you wait a few more moments, I can undo the cuffs."

"I'll just get the key. No worries. I'm glad you're feeling better, Rill."

 _He didn't quote Loveless when he said goodbye like he usually does..._

Rill watched Genesis leave with the inexplicable feeling that something had just gone wrong.

* * *

 _He always gets everything. Always does everything perfectly. The perfect SOLDIER. What every member of the Shinra army strives to become. Front page picture. First thing people think of. Winner of every battle he goes into._

 _I should have expected him to get the girl as well._

* * *

Hojo was a man of science. But science extended over very many fields and thus, so did he. He had to be proficient in almost everything pertaining to human life in order to make a solid comparison between them and Specimen S. Data was everything.

But there was the one irritating characteristic that his crowning achievement possessed, both the primary reason he had created him and the greatest chance for trouble. Any data regarding Sephiroth always needed to be updated and kept current with religious fervor. He was undergoing a constant array of changes, chemical and genetic, every passing day gave him more information to work with, more improvements to make in the other specimens he had collected. Jenova's cells always evolving and adapting to new pressure in a split second. The same ability that let Sephiroth think, and operate at rate far superior to other beings also required constant monitoring to get the most from his experiment. Hojo's true success as a scientist would come when he managed to replicate his original masterpiece. Hojo had him come back bi-weekly in order to draw the appropriate samples. He must perfect this process. He doubted anyone but himself could make something to surpass Sephiroth. Especially not the buffoon Hollander. He had come close with Genesis and Angeal, but Sephiroth was still easily their superior. The mere notion of those failures associating with his perfect specimen made his lip curl in disgust.

Hojo regarded the clock with some irritation. There were many other delicate experiments that needed supervision and his time was a commodity that he didn't enjoy wasting.

 _He's late._ He realized, narrowing his eyes. This...this was new behavior from Sephiroth. Punctuality was a trait he had encouraged in the boy. Something must have happened to delay him.

Further investigation led the good professor to the conclusion that his masterpiece was nowhere in the Shinra building at all. This...would have to be investigated.

Hojo almost wanted to laugh for delight when he heard the news as to what had kept his specimen from coming to him as instructed.

 _A female...he's finally taken notice of a female. His little assistant of all people..._ He thought back, knowing he had heard her name at least once. _Miss Thomas...How intriguing. Of all the women he could choose, my boy develops an interest in her, the same one who commands the respect of most of the SOLDIER program._ That fact alone had caught his attention, but other than a note for her composure and competence, he hadn't seen anything else remarkable about her. A child from the slums fighting her way up in the world.

He had expected that this would happen one day, that Sephiroth's interest would be caught and held in much more permanent way than the experimenting that he had done in his younger years. He had done his utmost to ensure that the right women came his way, to see if he couldn't get offspring from his specimen. But he had always been disappointed in that regard.

But this...this was a new matter entirely. There was no physical relationship as there had been before, but an emotional one.

 _New scenario, new data, and perhaps a different conclusion._ He mused to himself. _The other women were unprepared. They weren't capable of supporting a fetus with as much Mako and Jenova cells as Sephiroth would sire. The stable symbiosis that dominated Sephiroth's development, which allowed him to survive even though his mother died, never had the chance to set in. The fetus always died before I could establish the appropriate measures to ensure its survival. Too many unknown variables in the women...but if I could get started on gathering the data I need now...before their relationship progresses to that stage, there's that much more of a possibility that I can arrange that the child survives._

Hojo cackled with delight, already making plans on how he would get the appropriate samples from Miss Thomas. From his observations, she wasn't looking for any relationship. A reasonable conclusion since Sephiroth was her vast superior. But he would give it time. His boy might be a touch reserved, but once he decided on what he wanted, there was no doubt in the scientist's mind that he would make his desires known.

All he had to do was wait.


	12. Trials of the Heart

Rill had no intention of going anywhere on the mandated vacation she had been handed. She had some things to take care of, and the first priority was discerning how exactly the Calamity got inside Genesis.

"Your illness was really just the Planet cleaning the Calamity out of your body." Aeris said seriously. "It was only a small amount so it recognized the intruder and acted before it was too late." They were gardening together in the church. It was something that grounded them as they talked this out.

"But how did the Calamity get inside Genesis?" Rill ask, persistent on this point. "As far as we knew, it was still where it first landed, sealed inside the North Crater." Aeris never stopped her careful weeding, removing the unwanted plants from taking up the life-bearing soil that she wanted for her flowers.

"I don't know, Rill. We have no way of finding out. We don't even know if this was something from inside him, or if he came in contact with it some other way, maybe while he was in Wutai."

"But you can figure some way to cure it. I mean, I'm alive, so there has to be something we can do."

"We'll work on it." Aeris said uncertainly, eyes becoming distant. "As I said, there was only a tiny amount in you. I don't think you'd be in this good shape if you were a normal human without any of the resistances our ancestors gave us. However this got into Genesis, it will have been in him for much longer and gotten that much more of a hold on him. Just compounding Heal and Cure with my own power might not do the job..." Rill glanced at her cousin's hair, where she kept her mother's final gift...

"Could that help...?" She asked finally. The actual abilities of the White Materia were largely unknown to herself and her cousin. All they knew was that...

 _What help the Planet can give will come when you call it._

Aeris' hand rose and touched where the precious crystal was hidden.

"Maybe. I'd prefer to only use it as a last resort, but if there's no other way-"

"Then we have to use it." The Planet didn't like that ultimatum. Uneasiness rippled through them as their knelt in the flowerbed they were tending together. The two girls exchanged worried glances as they sensed the warning that was being issued.

Aeris' birth mother had warned her daughter about the cost of using that materia before she died. And it had frightened Aeris enough that she had vowed to never use it's power unless she had no other choice. To access the power hidden in the White Materia required incredible focus and a massive amount of energy. Aeris even believed that using it to escape from their pursuers had been what ultimately cost her mother her life.

"But if we do..." Aeris said slowly. "Rill, if we ever have to use my mother's gift...We do it together." The Planet hummed it's approving relief and they both relaxed.

"Alright." Rill nodded, exhaling slowly. "What do we need to learn about this contamination before we can cure it?"

"How it passes between people. What makes people susceptible to it. What it attacks. How to cure it." Aeris listed off. It was what the local doctor taught them about disease identification and combating. Her cousin nodded, bracing her dirt covered hands on her thighs.

"Well how it passes between people we already know. Person to person contact. I'll bet I got a little of that pus on me while I was healing Genesis. Going on the assumption that it's the Calamity, it recognized me and tried to kill me."

"So it's also possible that a person's concentration of Cetra inheritance plays a factor in their vulnerability..."

"But also in their resistance." Rill gnawed on her lower lip for a moment. "What could it attack though? A fever happens when the body is trying to make itself less appealing to a virus or bacteria."

"From what I could see, you were at an almost constant low in magical terms." Aeris offered. "So perhaps that was exactly what was happening. Your immune system was so caught up in driving out the invader that you couldn't pull enough Lifestream in to replace what you were losing."

"So...The Calamity attacks magic..." Rill mused. "It targets the Lifestream within a person. Cetra are more connected to it, making them more vulnerable to initial infection, but at the same time, that connection helps them to flush it out. That fits."

"Maybe so. But it doesn't help us learn how to cure it." Aeris sighed. "It was as much a matter of waiting things out as my ejecting it from you."

They sat in silence for a while longer, the pristine flowers growing as calmly and serenely as ever. The ruined church instead of seeming like something humanity neglected and discarded, was a place where the world was reclaiming some ground. A little bit of nature in the center of the biggest metropolis in the world.

The serious tone lightened then and Rill caught a faint trickle of embarrassment from her cousin and whipped her head around to see her cousin was blushing somewhat.

"What...?" She asked warily. Aeris gave her a little smile.

"Nothing, just...who was the other SOLDIER that came to see you with the Commander?" Rill blinked.

"That was Zack. I thought I told you about him. What brought this one?" She was met with the sight of her cousin fidgeting.

"Just curious..." _Just curious...Just curious. I'll buy that as soon as believe that Shiva and Ifrit don't have the hots for each other._

"Did you even see him?" Rill asked, just verifying what she thought she was hearing. "You're getting a crush on klutzy idiot of a puppy who tripped over his own feet trying to give me a hug, while forgetting that he was in fact handcuffed, sight unseen?" Aeri's blush grew brighter.

"Oh, stop it, Rill! Not everyone can turn off their emotions and not even be the littlest bit attracted to a nice guy."

"I'll leave you alone about Zack if you keep Sephiroth out of it." Aeris looked at her with a tiny little grin.

"I was referring to the commander, actually." _Liar._ Rill didn't even need to voice that thought for her intent to to be obvious as she gave her cousin a flat stare.

"Alright alright! You've made your point..." Aeris pouted. "But...well he seems nice, that's all."

Rill shook her head. Only her cousin could get from thinking about a potential epidemic to thinking about a guy within the same conversation.

"We'll meditate about the infection." She proposed. "Both of us. This isn't the first time the Calamity has tried to wipe out a Cetra, or humans. There has to be some way of curing her without relying on a person's magical capacity."

* * *

Rill saw Genesis a few days later while he was visiting Loveless Avenue. But instead of enjoying the spread of art based off of his favorite poem, he seemed angry, resentful and...hopeless in large part.

She had been urged to come here by the Planet and judging by her friend's despondent, defeated behavior, this was why.

"Wouldn't have thought you'd still be sulking." She remarked, sitting on the bench next to him. Her friend glanced at her for a moment, expressionless.

" _Dreams of the morrow hath shattered the soul, Pride is lost, Wings stripped away, the end is nigh._ " Rill looked at him and said very dryly.

"Poetry is a very effective medium of communication, but direct words are still better." His mouth twitched up in a smile.

"One can only take so much failure before the strain starts to show, my dear Nerilka."

"And what, pray tell, did you fail at?" She asked, arching a brow at him. "Because if I know you, it's something that only happened in your own mind and is much less vital than you're making it out to be."

"Would you like the list in chronological or alphabetical order?" He replied with a note of bitterness in his voice.

"How about by importance and by relevance to the fact that you've been ignoring my calls for the last few days?" And she had him there. Rill spied a guilty flinch in Genesis's shoulders. And she noticed an awkwardness in the way he held his left shoulder...

"You exhausted yourself healing me and I didn't notice what condition I left you in." This still felt like he was avoiding the real issue, but Rill would take what she could get.

"Ok. Let me put your mind at ease then:" She reached out and turned Genesis's face towards her. "I knew what I was doing. I'd do it again if you asked me to. Stop borrowing trouble. You make enough of it for yourself without trying to take blame for my mistake. It is not your fault. I overestimated my abilities, and that's on me, not you." His glowing Mako eyes still harbored a very intense emotion that she assumed was guilt.

"Rill, you almost died..." The girl sighed, flicking the melodramatic man in the forehead.

"Now you're being ridiculous. A bad fever hasn't killed anyone in Midgar in over twenty years. I was taken care of, and I'm fine now!" He seized her hand in a grip that was just barely not painful in its strength and pulled her a little closer, eyes flashing with emotion as he repeated himself.

"You. Almost. Died. Your body heat peaked at 106 degrees Fahrenheit! There was no way of knowing if you would ever wake up!" Rill cursed the Turks for telling Genesis that. She cursed her aunt's worrying tendencies that had made her say that loudly enough for the Turks to have heard it.

Genesis wasn't even close to being finished talking, it all seemed to pour out now that he had gotten started.

"You almost died because you were helping me. And my petty whim to have you heal me instead of someone else isn't worth your life! You say you would do it again? That's exactly what the problem is! You would risk your life again for me when I'm not worth it!" _Ok, bad! Stop the ranting. Question is how?_

Rill was trying to think of something when she felt someone was watching her and she went still, Tremor-Sense flaring to pick up every scrap of information that she could. Genesis thankfully noticed and fell silent, glancing around alertly for whatever had made her tense up.

 _Someone...over there._

The Cetra turned her head slightly and spotted a few woman watching them intently, one of them had their PHS open and was recording what was happening, the other two seemed to be frozen, fixated on what they were seeing.

 _Oh, of course. We're kinda in a public place filled to the brim with Genesis fans._ The SOLDIER before her made a disgusted sound upon seeing what she had and pulled her to her feet, leading her away.

Rill heard a disappointed grumble from one of their observers and instantly felt herself flush at what they must have been seeing.

 _Their idol performing a live, angry love confession._ A thrill of fear, exasperation and surprise flitted through her. _Wait...Love confession?_ Intent, rambling, holding onto her hand, staring her in the eye with enough intensity to make her think she would burst into flames any second. Rill felt something knot up in her stomach. _That can't be it...We established that I'm not interested._

 _You may not be. That doesn't take him into account._ Aeris pointed out gently. _He might feel that way even if you are determined to friendzone one of the most eligible bachelors in the city._ _Two if you count Sephiroth._

Rill scowled at her cousin's commentary.

 _Don't you have something better to do?_

 _Not really, no._ Aeris said honestly. _Rill, he could make you happy...I know it would mean a lot to him if you just gave him a chance._

 _No!_ Rill ground her teeth even as Genesis kept pulling her along through the streets, apparently not satisfied with his surroundings for whatever he was intending to say. She forced her legs to move a little faster to keep up with him, only for him to slow down to accommodate her. He also adjusted his grip so he was holding her hand instead of her wrist and the touch was noticeably gentler than before. She felt herself waver before digging in her mental heels even further. _Not. Going. There. He knows it._

 _And that's exactly what's bothering him._

Rill just picked up her pace still further, and let their conversation lapse into silence as they ran. Genesis eventually slowed once her breath started to come a little harder and faster, but he still kept moving.

"Rill. I...am going to be leaving in a few weeks." He was being deployed to Wutai again.

"I know. Two month rotation." His hand tightened on hers.

"I'm leaving Shinra altogether, Rill." Surprise made her steps falter for an instant.

"You're not talking about resigning, are you...?" Desertion. There weren't many crimes worse than that in the company's eyes. He didn't look at her, but there was a tightness to his mouth that told her she was right on target.

With this information, Rill had only one question, but...

"Would you answer me if I asked you why?" Her voice came out softly, gently even. No judging, no adverse reaction. She crafted plans to get out of Shinra as stress relief. And she had no desire to be working for them. She just had no choice. Rill was in no place to judge if Genesis wanted to leave. He doubtless would have a much harder time of it that she would since the company had much more invested in him than in her.

He looked at her, surprise, gratitude and something she refused to acknowledge in his gaze.

"Not now." He replied, clutching her hand as if it were a lifeline. "I can't tell you yet." That emotion she had seen in him before was back and Rill held in a sigh. She didn't want to hurt her friend, but he was not going to make this easy on himself, that much was plain.

"Then it's probably better if you don't tell me at all. So I won't have to lie if anyone asks me."

"I...I want you to come with me." She stumbled in shock, then looked at him with wide eyes. She knew that emotions tended to skew one's perspective, but yowza! She had no combat skills beyond street survival! She was a simple pen pusher who dabbled in other fields as needed. A glorified babysitter for crying out loud!

"What are you thinking Genesis? I'd be a walking liability!" She hissed. "I'd only slow you down-"

"I won't be on the run by myself." He said quickly, voice low and intent. "This isn't a random whim, Rill. I...It's been planned out for a while now." Her eyes narrowed for a moment...

Her instincts were telling her that Genesis would spill most of his plan to her if she let him. And doing so above the Plate seemed like a bad idea all around. He had led her to a fairly secluded part of town with little traffic. Mostly suburbs and the occasional play structure. The odds of people overhearing him were slim, but-

Rill flared her Tremor-sense Materia, searching for anyone following them before she spoke.

"Part of me wants to know more simply because you managed to slip something of this scale past me." The manpower alone should have alerted her, not to mention the missing supplies, rations, weapons, materia and transportation. How could she have missed all that? She then noticed the smirk on her companion's face that seemed more Genesis than she had seen in a while now. That smile made her stop and rethink...

Her attention, before she had fallen ill, had mostly been wrapped up in...

Rill let out a long, slow breath as everything fell into place.

 _The troop deployment to Wutai..._ Everything she had handled herself, all slid neatly under her nose, process and organized by her own hands. The portion of the army that was being sent out to fight under Genesis's command would probably never come back.

"You're more than clever enough to realize how we'll do it." Genesis seemed poised on the edge of something, still awaiting her answer now that she had more information. "All that needs to happen is you take advantage of your time off, head out of town, and we'll pick you up on the way." It would take only a few days for her absence to be noted after she was due back. And this plan relied on the entire detachment being hidden before the executives realized there had been foul play.

But Rill doubted Genesis would see it like that.

Aeris withdrew almost entirely from Rill's mind, letting her make the decision on her own. And that action alone made Rill feel more alone than she had ever been in her life.

She was frozen for a moment longer...then her mouth tightened into a grimace as she shook her head.

"That's not enough for me to go, Genesis...You're asking me to become a fugitive from the world's biggest superpower with no explanation as to why." She couldn't make a reasonable choice without knowing the whole story.

"Rill, I can't tell you more right now." There was an edge of desperation to his voice now and she felt his hand was shaking slightly. "It's already a stretch just to get permission for you to come along at all!" _Permission._

Rill's mind seized on that word as she looked at him sharply, trying to discern if it had been deliberate or truly accidental.

'Permission' implied that Genesis wasn't the one behind the desertion, even if he was leading it. Someone else was calling the shots here.

He seemed to clue in that he had told her something. But this was even less reassuring to her.

"This is someone else's idea..." She breathed. "They're holding something over you to get you to go along." He relaxed marginally.

"That is...accurate." He managed in painful, frustrated tone. Rill's heightened senses, still sharpened by her homebrewed materia, caught onto a series of fast tremors running through Genesis's body and a strange vibration from his shoulder. The same shoulder where he had been wounded. She squeezed his hand and focused on his body, beat of his heart, elevated with emotion, breathing, slightly accelerated with the same. His blood pulsing irregularly-

There was something wrong with his circulation.

 _It reopened..._

"Genesis..." Rill whispered, lifting her hand to hover just over where she had poured so much of herself into healing him. It...it felt as though it was even worse than before. "What happened to your wound?"

He was silent for a moment...then he let out a short, mirthless laugh, as he looked past her, bitter humor in his smile.

"So observant about all the wrong things, my dear Nerilka..."

"What's wrong with it?" She persisted, knowing that her hand was growing tighter and tighter by the minute.

"Suffice to say, it's not healing." Genesis said tonelessly. "The only way I can receive the cure is if I desert."

"Let me-"

"No!" His sudden shout shattered the tense silence between them and echoed through the street. He seized her other hand, pulling them up and in. Drawing her close to his chest, eyes wild. "No you must not touch it ever again, even with magic! It's too dangerous for you!" Rill was taken aback at the sudden closeness, at the heat she felt radiating off of him... She regarded him, then let her vision slip into infrared as she channeled her power to the appropriate materia.

Genesis's coloration was off. He was burning slightly hotter than what he should be. He was sick too!

 _Theory confirmed. Genesis is both carrier and victim of the Calamity._

"Alright, please don't shout. We've already garner enough attention." She soothed, forcing their linked hands down as her mind spun.

This one simple talk had exploded way out of proportion to what she had thought this would turn out as.

Genesis slowly calmed down, his breathing evening out as he kept her close. He met her gaze with piercing Mako eyes, head inclined slightly towards her.

"I need an answer Rill...Yes, or no?" She gazed at where his wound was.

The Calamity was probably only just barely lucid enough to register other lifeforms around Genesis. It had to already know that there were Cetra who had survived... But if she went with him, then there would be nowhere to hide.

And...And Aeris...

Rill swallowed and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Genesis. I'm the only reliable income my family has..." Selling flowers bought them the goodwill of their neighbors and her deceased uncle's pension let them survive, but things were still painfully sparse for both Elmyra and Aeris. And there was still the fact that Shinra had had its eye on her cousin since she was a little girl and Rill still didn't know when Tseng would be forced to carry out his longstanding mission and bring Aeris in. Rill needed the position she was in, for the power, information and funding it provided.

"The same family that the Turks babysit?" He asked with a hint of scorn. "Do you think I'm an idiot, Rill?" Her head snapped up and she felt her eyes blaze.

"At the moment?" She hissed. "You're one of the more intelligent people I know, Genesis. So here's some information for you to process: The Turks have been watching my cousin since she was eight years old! They never hurt or threatened her, no. But they are the reason she and my aunt still live in the slums on an infantryman's pension! They haven't let them move elsewhere! And I don't have the faintest clue as to why they are so interested in her...!" It took a lot of control to not outright scream her frustration. Aeris was a Cetra, an Ancient as most people called them, and there were people in the company that knew that. They knew where Aeris was and kept her in one place in relative isolation where they could easily retrieve her. They, being the personal hit squad of the President and his son.

It wasn't why Rill worried word for word. She knew exactly why Aeris was kept where she was. But that was a secret Rill was determined to keep to herself for as long as possible. But it was certainly enough to make Genesis think and see why she was so concerned. Rill gently removed her hands from his, flexing her joints to help restore blood flow, eyes down.

"I want you to be safe, I want you to be whole." _I wish was strong enough to heal you..._

"And I wish there was another way for that to happen..." _Anyway but running away like this._

"I wish you didn't have to leave everything you have here..." _Your friends, Genesis. They're still your friends, please..._ "But if you think that turning on Shrina will get you what you want, then all I can do is wish you the best." _Please don't become my enemy._

Rill looked back at Genesis, hoping he would take the rejection well. That's what this was, even if she was trying to be as oblvious about this as she could while still being nice.

She expected there to be hurt, and there was. The pain was twisting his features into something that made her own heart clench in sympathy. She expected anger. She knew Genesis had a temper to rival a dragon's and this, after baring his soul, would be just the right thing to set him off. And that was there too. Not as much as she had feared there would be, but...

"Please don't hate me..." The words slipped out before she could stop them as . As soon as they were in the air, Rill wished she could snatched them back. The childish sentiment seemed to be everything she didn't want to portray right now! Vulnerable, upset, hurt and worst of all receptive! She didn't want to lead him on! Her voice was barely louder than a whisper.

"I can't feel the same way..." She could not go through with this. Too much depended on it.

It was more than just Aeris's death now. She and her cousin were the last Cetra worth mentioning on the Planet. And if the Calamity was stirring, wherever it was...

Then it was their job to defend it. Two people in place of the nation.

And the thought of having to do that, against the force that had wiped out all but a fraction of their ancestors, terrified Nerilka Thomas beyond all comprehension.

A crimson gloved hand brushed her cheek gently, before fingers lifted her chin to meet Genesis's gaze.

" _My friend, your desire, is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess._ " Even in this, Rill couldn't help but smile albeit a little weakly. The world could be ending and Genesis would still recite that damn play.

She heard his intent though, even through the flowery words.

 _I won't hate you._

She was caught off guard when he bent in and kissed the corner of her mouth, rendering her speechless and frozen. He brought her hand on to his lips and kissed that then.

" _Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return._ "

Rill sat in her apartment for about fifteen minutes after Genesis walked her back, staring into space and forcing the blush from her cheeks.

 _That...damn...diva!_ She seethed furiously, fist clenching in her lap. _It's bad enough I was already crushing on him before, but now he's planning on being a wanted criminal and he goes and pulls this!?_

 _You say that as if him being a 'bad guy' makes him more attractive._ Rill buried her face in her hands and groaned as hot tears started to push their way out of her eyes.

 _Aeris, for the love of the Mother: Shut up._ This was bad. Very, very bad. She didn't want to love anyone like this, let alone Genesis!

 _She heard the sound of a sword running her cousin through, the edge coated with magic to make entry as smooth and easy as a sharp needle piercing fabric. She saw her cousin falling to the ground as the sword was withdrawn. It was all her fault, all her fault, if she hadn't gotten into that with him. If she had just used her head and been an adult for once in her life-_

Rill forced the potent vision away, even as it etched itself into her memory all over again.

 _That's it?_ Aeris asked, bewildered. _That's why you never let any guy close to you? Because you saw that? One future out of millions of possibilities?_ The certainty that had hit Rill like a ringing gong resonated through to Aeris then. That would happen if Rill was in a romantic relationship. There was no possibility about that. And that was something she would do everything in her power to prevent. If it meant she lived as a spinster for the rest of her life, then it was worth it!

 _Oh._ Aeris breathed as the wave of pure _fact_ washed over her. The same surefire knowing that had turned Rill off to men hit her, if anything, even harder. _Oh...Oh Rill..._

Rill pushed her cousin out of her thoughts, closing all her borders and curling up into a ball to cry, regret and mourn.

She had succeeded. She wasn't in any kind of a romantic relationship.

But now, for the first time in her life, she wished she could be.

 _It's wrong to see her torn and upset over his departure. But so long as he saw that, he knew that there was potential there. Sephiroth hadn't won yet! Not her at any rate! There were only a few more days before he left Shinra, this time with no intention of coming back until he was cured and capable of defeating Sephiroth once and for all._


	13. Puppy-Strength Anti-Depressant

It was a very long vacation.

Genesis was flying out late the following Sunday evening to reach the front with the vanguard of his division of the army by Monday morning.

Rill would have lain around her apartment for the rest of the time off that she had and tried to piece together an identity that wouldn't end up an emotional wreck when faced with a normal day in the SOLDIER department. It was slow going. Hence why she was doing it with three days between herself and the time when she would have to return to work.

Then she was roused by an energetic pounding at her door.

The Planet hummed and she opened herself to it. The plucked harp-string sensation told her that it could only be one of a handful of people. Combined with the pace of the "knock", there was only one possibility. Rill smiled ruefully. _Well, Zack's not going anywhere until I see him at least._

She rose and went to the door to greet her energetic friend, only to note with some surprise that it was the wrong height for Zack.

Zack was almost six feet tall.

This person's head was a good bit lower than that and blond, though it was just as spiky.

"Cloud?" The young cadet turned bright red as Rill looked at him with some bewilderment.

The youth stood almost even with her in height, dressed in the standard uniform of a Shinra trooper. But what baffled her was what he was holding.

He offered her a bouquet of flowers. Very familiar flowers at that.

 _Aeris...?_ She asked her cousin with some trepidation. She was equally surprised.

 _Oh...he said he wanted to say thank you to someone. I honestly didn't have much more to do with this than giving him the flowers._

"Thank you, Miss Rill. For...for letting me call my mom." He seemed embarrassed to say this aloud in front of Zack, who was standing off to the side, grinning like a loon.

Rill let out a soft breath as she accepted the flowers with a smile, their familiar fragrance easing the heavy sadness that had been burdening her.

She had discovered about two weeks back that it was Cloud's birthday and had made appropriate arrangements for him to actually enjoy the day, including patching a long distance call through to Nibelheim for him to talk to his mother.

"It was my pleasure, Cloud. Thank you, they're lovely." She held the bouquet, a combination of yellow lilies from the church and white roses from the house. _Joy and innocence._ It certainly was lifting her spirits. Rill looked at Cloud, who was blushing very deeply, and thought with a laugh.

 _You gave them away, didn't you? Didn't take anything in return._ Aeris hemmed and hawed for a bit.

 _Well, I talk to him sometimes when he's on patrol down here... He said he gave flowers to his mom all the time to show he appreciated her and that he wanted to do the same for someone else he knew. It was really sweet._ When that had occurred, Rill didn't know. But the Planet was glad for this. Very glad. Almost as much as when Sephiroth had been with their family.

"There's a smile!" Zack whooped, slinging an arm over Rill's shoulder. "I was worried you were just gonna stay all cooped up in your apartment for your entire vacation!"

"Worried? You? You've been bombarding my PHS with pictures of kittens and bad jokes. Usually you're much more in the open about things like this." Rill said dryly. "And why are you here?"

"Well, normally Seph would skin me if I tried to bug you at home. But then this little guy here was looking for you but didn't know where you lived!" Zack said, jerking his thumb at Cloud with his customary grin. It was the perfect solution. Sephiroth couldn't fault Zack for helping out an earnest admirer, or for going along to chaperone said admirer.

Cloud gave him a look that would have been a glare on anyone else, likely at the jab about his height. As expected, Zack either didn't see it, or ignored it.

"Well since I'm already here!" Zack said with an irrepressible grin. "Let's have some fun!"

* * *

"Betcha 1000 gil that I can eat the whole thing in one bite!"

"No bet, Zack. I know better than to wager any money against your capacity for food."

"Aw, c'mon! Cloud'll take the bet, won't you buddy?"

"Um...enlisted men aren't allowed to gamble with their superiors, sir!"

"Oh, come on!"

* * *

"Zack, get down from there!"

"Aw! Worried about me, Rill?"

"No! You're more than tough enough to survive that and walk away! I'm worried about the property damage you'll cause when you-" *CRASH!* "-fall..."

* * *

"Didj I...did I win da contesth...?"

"Sorry Zack, Cloud drank you under the table and out the door. Something about mountain resilience. Just hold still and let me heal your hangover..."

"WHAT!? OI, BLONDIE! WE'RE HAVING A REMATCH RIGHT-!...Owie..."

"Zack...For one; Cloud is away on patrol this morning. For another, I believe I said to hold still."

"Ma'am yes ma'am! Oh Shiva, please don't kill me!...My heeeeead..."

"Yes, Zack, shouting when you have a hangover is uncomfortable...You know what, on second thought, I think I'll let you keep the hangover."

"Nuuuuu! Riiiiiiiill!"

* * *

"Wooo yeah! You get him Cloudy! Show that loser who's boss! Just like I showed ya!"

"Zack! Don't encourage him! It was one lame pickup line! It's no big deal!"

"C'mon Rill! Let Cloud step up and be a man! He's coming to your defense and everything!"

"He's trying to suplex a 2nd Class SOLDIER!"

"And doing a damn good job of it! Keep it up buddy, you've got him on the ropes!"

* * *

"Rill? Just how much are you worth to the company right now?"

"I was running a couple calculations on the side...they're not complete, there's a lot of data to work through, but..."

 _A brief look at the current workings of the Shinra company in Rill's absence._

 _Rufus' phone was ringing off the hook._

" _Ok, so when they started dancing, the fireworks started to go off inside? How did they even get fireworks past security!?" Hunts-in-shadows was chewing something meaty as he watched his human frantically try to fill the void that Her absence left._

 _First there had been a general lack of information. The patrol, training and cleaning schedules for the SOLDIER department and three floors on either side of it were in complete chaos. Then, several rodent specimens the size of large house cats had escaped from the labs after chewing their way through solid steel in a matter of minutes, wreaking havoc on another two floors as they blindly attempted to escape._

 _Hunts-in-shadows swallowed the last bit of his treat before nosing around in the pile nearby for another one._

 _The hunting had been good exercise and hadn't taken very long, so the alloy vermin had been handled. But one of the labs attached to Urban Development had been breached during the emergency extermination. It had been working on finding antidotes to recreational drugs to counteract potential overdoses in the lower parts of the city, and on researching a new painkiller. When the two compounds had been mixed, it had had an interesting result on those who had been exposed._

 _Hunts-in-shadows licked his chops as the sour-sweet odor of mad science drifted through the air._

" _They made them on the spot?...See to it that they're transferred at least part time to Weapons Development. What about the infantry that were exposed?...I see." Rufus carded his hand through his blond hair, looking far less put together than he would prefer. His coat was stained with the alloy vermin blood that Dark Nation had hunted down, his shoes were ruined with an unknown anagram of chemicals that was starting to burn holes in his carpet and he had narrowly escaped being the first man in space due to some unplanned pyrotechnics from the drugged lab workers._

 _Hunts-in-shadows chuffed in amusement as his human hung up the phone, then deliberately started to pound his head against the desktop._

 _The child of the Planet, Eye-of-the-Storm, would be amused to see his human in this state. The foolish male had angered her and she had yet to forgive him altogether. Perhaps this would be seen as sufficient penance for her to come and see him again. Silver-Alpha wouldn't approve of that that, but Eye-of-the-Storm wasn't some weak willed, easily cowed female. She would do as she pleased, no more and no less. No male had claimed her yet, so she was beholden to no one but herself._

 _Hunts-in-shadows yawned and stretched as he rose to patrol his elected packmate's territory to ensure all was in order for when she returned._

"-but so far as I can tell, I'm ranked somewhere between the Mako reactor blueprints and morning coffee in importance."

* * *

"I have concluded that pessimism and any related negative feeling cannot exist in Zack's presence." Rill remarked to Sephiroth and Angeal when she was back at work.

"So that's where he always charged off to when he was off duty. I was wondering why there weren't any emergencies..." The dark haired 1st Class mused, but Sephiroth was taking a rather different approach, eyeing Rill shrewdly.

"Why were you depressed?" The primly dressed secretary shrugged.

"I simply had reality thrown in my face, sir. Nothing of any concern." She had slipped back into the secretary persona upon her return and Sephiroth seemed to be handling the change well. She had only caught a brief furrowing of brows when she addressed him as 'sir' instead of by name.

The time off with Zack and Cloud had done her a lot of good. Rill was more relaxed than she had been in months even with the...new developments in her life.

She had heard horror stories of what had been happening in the company during her absence. She had almost been assaulted with hugs from the other secretaries, every janitor on the role and most of the accounting staff as she made her way to her office. And Dark Nation had been waiting for her, sitting before her desk with a pile of what could only be gifts behind him. He looked very pleased with himself.

Rill had thanked and rewarded him appropriately. And as the strange beast devoured his treat, she began to organize her...hoard, she supposed. Sephiroth had managed to steal most of the actual paperwork and left only get well cards and packages on her desk. There was a note written in his hand that he had ordered the gifts stowed in a locker after the first attempted thievery, but then Dark Nation had stepped in and begun to guard the pile. No less than four people had needed to run to the infirmary after having been savaged by him, whether they attempted to take something from the pile, or add something that Dark Nation thought wasn't suitable. Since these packages were later investigated and found to be drugged or otherwise dangerous, Sephiroth had ordered enough choice steak to feed a Zolom for Dark Nation in thanks. They appeared to have taken a liking to each other in her absence.

Now she was tackling the remaining backlog of work that Sephiroth hadn't been able to catch and organizing cleanup for another two VR rooms. She noted the names responsible with a frown and wrote a note to Angeal to take the squad in hand about their apparent desire to challenge the three 1st Class SOLDIER's combined record of wanton, accidental urban destruction. (Three entire floors of the building during the X-model Roboguard demonstration, the equivalent of 27 VR rooms, and a large section of the Sector 2 plate support.)

* * *

She was accompanied by Dark Nation as she approached Rufus's office. The animal's oddly placed tail moved with languid satisfaction as people in the halls hurriedly stepped aside to keep from deterring them. She glanced down at him and spoke firmly.

"Be nice." The animal's toothy grin switched to a look of faux innocence as he gazed up at her and she snorted.

"Sure you are..."

Contrary to what Rill had heard about the two week period of her absence, Rufus was as put together as he always was, not a hair out of place, not a single flaw in his crafted smile.

"I trust you had a pleasant vacation, Nerilka?" She raised her brows at him wordlessly. _Again with the name, dude._

"Quite so, sir." She replied, keeping her tone cool and polite. "Annual utility maintenance is due on floors 44 through 49, and as the last provider threatened lawsuit if he was called on again..."

"I'll see to it." Rufus said, clasping his hands and looking her over with an air that Rill had become very familiar with over the last few days.

"I assure you, sir. I am in perfect health."

"Nonetheless, your abruptly falling ill caused quite a bit of trouble throughout the entire building, not the just the SOLDIER department." Rufus dropped the probing gaze as soon as she called him out, and was now more along the lines of the businessman his father only wished he could still be. "To no one's surprise, your value to the company far surpasses your current position."

"A position I am very happy to stay in." Rill cut off his coming suggestion for her to transfer out of SOLDIER.

"The majority of our armed forces would riot if we tried to transfer you, so the board decided on something else."

Rufus explained that the board of executives had come to the conclusion that if Rill could be as effective as she was without any special training, then it was clear that either that Shinra was a disaster in organization, or that she had the skills necessary for-

"You want me to try and train already qualified people in the same troubleshooting jobs that I do?" She asked dubiously.

"It needn't be more than a handful to optimize placement. So long as there is someone who could feasibly accomplish the same tasks as you do, or thereabouts, in more than one department. As effective as you are, you primarily stay in the SOLDIER department."

"It is my job to do so."

"And-" Rufus continued onward as if she hadn't spoken. "-as you are against changing positions and in light of your recent illness, this is the best solution that the Board of Executives could come up with." Rill mulled over that information.

The Turks were technically in charge of that area, officially being 'The Department of Administrative Research'. But as that was just their cover for what their real job was...

It would be a good step forward organization wise, and he had explained that she would be receiving an additional salary for her work. But odds are she would end up involved in whatever messes her fellow troubleshooters were supposed to handle one way or the other. And taking the time to do so with her current workload as well...

"Is this a request or an order, sir?" She asked frankly. "However effective a teacher I might be, it doesn't change the fact that this assignment would either have me take time away from the duties I already have, or force me to work longer hours. And I am already, as evidenced, pushed over the brink by what I currently have." It wasn't smart. She wasn't feeling this as an official capacity. If she could pull herself through this company with only minimal assistance from the Planet, then others could muddle on through as well.

"Then what about just one?" Rufus asked promptly. "One person from Administrative Research who shadows you, just to see how you handle things and learn from it. They could help in your work as well."

"Will they be willing to put aside the department rivalry enough to be useful?"

"They will hold themselves to the highest standards of professional conduct." Rill almost jumped out of her skin as Veld's voice sounded behind her. _Hello?!_ She snapped at the Planet. Her only answer was the distinct impression of laughter.

"Do you have someone specific in mind or do I get to choose?" She addressed the question to both of them as if Veld hadn't startled her. The leader of the Turks moved to stand beside Rufu's desk, eyes level and calm.

"We have some recommendations."

Rill examined the list of names she was given. Code names only, but she knew most of them by face at least.

She scanned through the list slowly, considering each name and assessing the reaction she got from the planet for each one. Overall, there were only two with any major positive reaction, so she chose the female Turk, codename Gun, actual name: Emma. A local city girl whose family was still in town. She was professional, calm and to the point in all previous interactions. On top of that, she had a strong stomach, little tolerance for BS, and a very, very dry, occasionally morbid sense of humor. She'd be perfect.

"We'll let Gun know. She'll be by tomorrow." Rill raised her brows at Veld.

"I expect you haven't informed General Sephiroth of the finer details of this change?" They were essentially giving a secretary to a secretary. Rufus coughed, hiding a wicked smirk behind a fist.

"I'm afraid Scarlet was the one to bring it up, and the way she phrased it...didn't please the General." _So you're going to have me be the one to tell him. Cowards. The whole lot of you._ Dark Nation was snuffling rather determinedly around Rill's feet, specifically a place in the floor where she spied a faint disturbance in the carpet...

Activating her Tremor-sense materia, Rill detected that there was a large pit beneath the floor and that someone was inside it and they were not happy.

"Sir, I believe I stated that a pit-trap was not a good ascetic choice."

Rufus was taken aback for all of an instant before he started to laugh. Veld's eyes widened briefly, and she registered that he was very, very surprised that she had not only detected that something was amiss, but deduced exactly what was wrong instantly.

"Oh my Goddess, Nerilka Thomas. How in the world did the Turks not recruit you...?" Rufus said chuckling. Rill tapped her foot on the floor in a brief sequence before she heard the distinct, desperate tapping of an SOS in answer and her eyes narrowed dangerously at the blond Vice President...

Veld recognized the signs and beat a hasty retreat as Dark Nation settled on his bed to watch his master learn once again that Rill was not one to be trifled with.

* * *

Sephiroth had seen Rill walk through the hallways as calm and levelheaded as a zen garden no matter what was going on around or near her. But it was a rather new sight to see Reno clinging to her like ivy. His first instinct was to get him to stop bothering her. Then he looked more closer and saw that the redheaded senior Turk looked rather the worse for wear. His hair, something he was rather vain about, was messy and a little greasy. He looked haggard and haunted, an impressive accomplishment for someone like him. The Turks didn't give promotions just for the fun of it and Reno likely had a very large number of skeletons in his closet.

"What happened to you?" He asked him, still all but wrapped around Rill as he was. It made for an odd sight. Tiny Rill being embraced by the tall, lanky Reno and not falling over.

The Turks shuddered.

"Sadist of a VP had a pit trap put in his office last week. Used me to test it on Friday. I was in there for the whole weekend!"

"No food, barely any rest, no light, active sound dampeners." Rill snapped shortly, her eyes flashing over her glasses. Sephiroth whistled softly. Ultimate solitary confinement without any forewarning? That was harsh...

"What were you doing to annoy him so much that he left you in there?" At this, there came a weak laugh.

"First: Spamming his inbox with leave of absence request forms from people that don't work here. Second: rigging some veeeeeery special tapes to run on the security cameras-" Rill poked Reno's forehead.

"Keep quiet before I decide you deserved what you got. I won't be nearly so willing to let you hang off of me then."

"Shutting up, Rill..."

"Good. You can eat in my office, but I want you showered before you try to sleep."

* * *

Rill had torn Rufus several new ones about appropriate reactions to antics such as Reno's, giving her the feeling that in spite of genuinely putting the fear of the Goddess into him for this stunt, he was simply all the more impressed and assured that she would be an ideal asset to his plans.

The Turk had devoured the food she had given him then crashed on the couch in her office and was completely dead to the world.

She sighed, massaging her temples.

Unlike Zack, who just had too much energy to sit still or think things through, Reno was more than busy enough to fill his entire time and very much capable of thinking.

He just did this stuff for the hell of it.

It was rarely ever harmful, just annoying. All he wanted to do was push people's buttons and get them to snap and try to attack him, or doing something in response. But in a company where pride was the primary motivating force, Reno had to know he was flirting with danger whenever he pulled a stunt like this.

 _Of course he does._ Aeris said simply. _He's a thrill seeker. It's what got him into the Turks in the first place._

 _And the more capable he got, the less exciting everything he did in his work became._ Rill tapped her lips thoughtfully. _That explains so much..._

 _Oh?_

 _Well yeah, I'd give him food if he asked for it. But he just keeps stealing from Sephiroth or other people in the Turks._

* * *

Emma arrived the next morning, calm, ready and looking oddly out of place in the skirt and blouse. Her short blonde bob, professional attire and cold expression gave Rill a strong sense of deja vu. She knew Emma distantly from her frequent interactions with the Turks. But the woman had always been given other assignments so she wasn't on really close terms with her.

"I almost thought you'd keep wearing the Turk uniform." Rill commented as she sorted the day's work on the desk.

"I would prefer that." Emma admitted with a grimace. "But as I am to be emulating you, my orders stated that I was supposed to follow your example in this." Rill was immaculately dressed in a neat blouse and skirt with her blazer laid over the back of her chair to account for the summer's warmth lingering into autumn. The younger woman paused as she considered her new acquaintance...

"Were you given verbal orders or a pre-written packet?" The older woman paused, her eyes taking on a sharp calculating look as she thought back.

"A packet. They were written up after the board approved the notion of giving you an assistant."

"When?"

"Last week." _That's it then._

"Before Reno went into the pit trap or after?" Emma was still for a moment...then she scowled as she made the same connection that Rill had. _That idiot is begging for someone to shoot him._

"Tiamat's spawn." She swore under her breath, scowl deepening and turning icy, glowering as her eyes flashed angrily. "I'm going to have to pin him to the wall in order of his favorite body part-" Rill rapped her knuckles on her desk top, drawing the older woman's attention.

"Lesson number one: If they don't see a negative reaction, they start to become worried about when it will arrive." Emma nodded after a brief moment, a slow smile on her face.

"So they get afraid about what will be done to them and when, and in turn behave themselves. A little severe reaction initially, and the rest fall into line." Rill hummed.

"Not quite. You had a good beginning. Then your perception and professional experience started to interfere. No matter. You're a quick study." She tapped a stack of paper files together, grimacing at Professor Hojo's deplorable habit of insisting everything had a paper file in the archives in case of a software bug. She couldn't help but think there was something very wrong with this insistence. It was so wasteful!

"What makes you say that, ma'am?" Emma asked keenly. Rill flashed her new friend a dry smile.

"You already know both my and the General's preference for how we take our tea, our personal filing system and general pattern in which we work." Rill was rewarded with a flash of surprise across the guarded woman's face. Then an answering smile formed on the woman's face.

"I believe we will be able to work well together, ma'am."

"Nerilka, please."

* * *

Rill wasn't exactly surprised that Emma kept her gun on her even when she was acting as a secretary. Nor was she surprised at her reaction to Reno creeping in for his daily dose of adrenaline. He got more than he bargained for when she sent one bullet at him as his head barely cleared the window's opening, missing his head by inches. He let go of the window ledge with a yelp and Rill was briefly concerned until she heard the Planet's serene amusement and knew he hadn't fallen. Sephiroth sighed and looked back with obvious annoyance.

"It's alright, Emma. Just Reno. Though I do thank you for your abrupt action."

"Only doing my duty, sir." Emma said, calmly refilling her empty chamber.

"Indeed, much less damage overall than when General Sephiroth responds." Rill said pleasantly, causing the man blush in embarrassment. He...may or may not have destroyed the wall once or twice to drive Reno out of the air vents.

"That sounds like a very interesting story. May I hear it?"

"Don't you dare Rill!'

"Certainly, Emma. You see, despite my best efforts the General does not know what the term 'appropriate response' is."

"WOULD YOU STOP GABBING AND PULL ME UP ALREADY!"

* * *

"Lesson number 8 in how to correctly handle morons:" Rill said serenely as she and Emma enjoyed a cup of tea on the balcony, watching as a helicopter buzzed through the air. Reno was piloting and, with the minigun he had affixed to it being manned by Zack with startling effectiveness, they were mowing through the airborne enemies. Goblins mounted on griffons, a suggested idea for an airborne distraction or suicide attack.

Zack's whoop as he successfully channeled a Lightning Materia through the minigun was audible even over the noise of the chopper blades.

"Fools they may be, but they are effective ones and kept on hand for a reason. So there are times when letting them rampage is appropriate."

"I was wondering how they hadn't gotten themselves fired yet." Emma mused, her knuckles white on her cup as she watched the utter chaos before her eyes.

" _Hey Rill!"_ Reno called over the loudspeaker with a mad cackle. " _LOOK, NO HANDS!"_ Rill sighed before admitting:

"...I wonder much the same...on an hourly basis."

* * *

"Do you...often take that route to get below the Plate?" Emma asked Rill with some trepidation as she regarded one of the cables she used to speed up travel.

"It's cheaper than the trains." She replied pertly.

"And you're sure we have to go down there like this?"

"It's also much faster, even if it is difficult. As in, fifteen minutes with a direct route, to an hour with people who know you're coming. This is why I advised you to keep a pair of pants on hand at all times. A surprising amount of bizarre events can happen to our men in the slums and the only truly effective way to deal with them is to get feet on the ground and do it personally. This would be better for a local to do, though. And while wearing a Shinra uniform of any kind down there might keep you safe, it certainly won't get you much information." Rill tugged on her gloves, and prepared to rappel down into the slums.

"...And you're sure we have to go like this?"

"Emma, don't try that with me. You might be afraid of heights, but no one in the Turks earns their name without being able to overcome any irrational fear. Now woman up, and let's go. There are things that can eat people in the sewers and we have three men stuck in a manhole. They don't appear to be able to save themselves, so we had best hurry."

As it turned out, by the time the two women arrived on the scene, Reno had already gotten there and was selling admission to watch the three SOLDIER struggle to free themselves. There were bets being made all around and the redhead was raking in the dough.

Rill massaged the bridge of her nose.

"This does not surprise me in the least..." She held out a hand to keep Emma from storming over and helping. "No, Emma. That would only encourage him."

"What do you suggest then?" Emma said stiffly, controlling her apparently well earned reflex to shoot Reno on sight.

The secret Ancient flipped open her PHS with a smile.

"We hit him where it really hurts and then break it up quietly."

* * *

That Friday when Reno headed out to his favorite bar to get a drink, he was informed by an apologetic bouncer that he had been blacklisted for a few weeks after his last...incident.

"C'mon, Skinny, you guys have worse fights than that for the restroom! What gives, yo?"

The burly man coughed and inclined his head to whisper something hurriedly in Reno's ear and pass over a folded note.

Reno read the note...then a dejected slump entered his shoulders.

"Man...that bites."

"I'm really sorry, guy. I got no way of turning this around for ya!" Reno waved it off.

"I'll make it, man. Don't sweat it. See ya in a few weeks. Tell the old girl to have everything stocked in double, I'm gonna drink you out when I get back."

Reno skulked away, turning a corner before pulling out his phone and calling Rill.

" _Yes?"_

"You are a cold, heartless woman, Rill. How can you live with yourself?"

" _I think I'll manage."_ her voice was very, very dry as she answered, but Reno caught a barely present current of satisfied amusement. He grunted as he kicked some litter aside as he walked.

"You've surpassed just being ruthless, this is straight up sadistic, yo. Cruel and unusual! Odin as my witness, I'm gonna sue you!"

" _Regardless of who you chose as your prosecutor, you'd lose completely, utterly and humiliatingly."_ Reno slumped against a street lamp, fighting the grin that was spreading across his face.

"Got me banned from my favorite joints and threatening my cookies if I try to sneak a drink...I knew you weren't just gonna pull those three wusses outta the fire." A perfect double blackmail. She had him over a barrel in three lines.

 _Congratulations, you are as of right now going dry. You've also gained some weight, so no more treats or sweets. I've taken the liberty of acquiring some assistance to help you stick to your new lifestyle._

" _There is always more I can do, Reno. Kindly don't waste my time again."_

"Will do boss-lady, will do." _Well played._


	14. Desertion

It had been almost two months since Emma had joined Rill in controlling the mad antics of the Shinra company, usually Reno and Zack as they were her specialities.

"You have to build your own repertoire. Reno and Zack are the most extreme examples, but they're far from the only ones that I've handled."

"But everything else seems so tame in comparison..."

"Precisely." Rill was once again pulling off a flawless polite mask while a sobbing Zack clung to her waist and wouldn't be pried away for anything. She absently patted his head, then continued to sign her paper work without seeming that bothered. Emma shook her head.

"I understand how you work even less now than I did before I started this." The younger woman shot her a quick smile.

"Once you learn to act, Emma, the rest is easy."

"The rest?" The blond asked dubiously, leaning forward on the desk. "Rill, you've averted social disaster for the company no less than nine times in the last month alone, saved the company almost five million in property damage, hush money and insurance rates, all while your guy is on the frontlines of a bloody war!" Rill barely restrained a flinch and an aggravated sigh.

"I say it again, I am not in a relationship of any kind." The talk about her and Genesis had been active, more so than she expected, but repeated and firm denials were starting to take their toll. But apparently the commander's interest was legendary enough that people were still talking about it.

"I'll bet you my paycheck he asks you out when he comes back." Even the time Rill had had to wrestle her emotions into submission couldn't stop the brief pang she felt. Once again the unseen pressure she felt at knowing...knowing that Genesis intended to desert the company and stand as an active enemy stabbed into her.

Not for the corporation, oh no, far from it. But for Sephiroth and Angeal. The ones that would truly miss their friend and want to scream at him for being an idiot. For forcing them to fight him as an enemy...

"Irrelevant, Emma. I'm not interested in any kind of relationship." The conniving blond was looking at her again with a glint in her eye that Rill had learned to recognize.

"With all due respect, Rill: That's bull. You care about him."

"It is called being a friend, Emma."

"You're friendzoning the most eligible bachelor in the city." The blond Turk repeated as if she hadn't quite heard her correctly. Zack piped up, calming down somewhat and listening with a slight frown.

"Did Gen seriously say something to you Rill? 'Cause, If he did then I won the bet that he'd fess up before he went out!" Rill gave the 2nd Class SOLDIER a hard look and he fell silent instantly. She was aware of the betting pools that were running at the moment. Somehow she had ended up holding the pot for most of them! But that was still a sore spot that she didn't feel like having people poke at even if they didn't realize just how much it was hurting her.

"Commander Rhapsodos did not mention anything of the kind." Rill lied, keeping her face as composed as she could. She beat back her reflex to grimace as the falsehood came from her lips. She hated lying even if she had become rather good at it over the course of her life.

"And even if he had, it would be something to be kept in confidence and not broadcast throughout the entire company." Rill put a definitive end of the subject in her voice and forced herself to not look at her calendar. Genesis was due back in just two more days and she hadn't stopped praying the entire time that he would see sense and not go through with his plan...

"What's wrong?" Sephiroth's voice sounded just behind her and Rill started out of her brown study. She looked up at the silver haired man with somewhat distracted eyes.

"I beg your pardon?" A finger gently poked her temple in chastisement and she rolled her eyes. "Sorry Sephiroth, but the professional face is easier to hold onto if I don't have to keep switching personalities whenever there isn't any work to do."

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a work face." Sephiroth said, leaning against her desk, somehow managing to not loom over her in spite of his height and girth. "You know I have one too. But I'd still rather see the real you whenever I can." Sephiroth's SOLDIER face was something to behold. Rill would describe it as simply, utterly terrifying. The kind of paralyzing terror you might feel when you saw a wrathful god in battle, mixed with the inevitable horror of a dragon bearing down on you. She had never yet seen this face in person, only in recordings, and she hoped very much it would stay that way. She much preferred the socially impaired dork with a sweet tooth as big as his reputation.

There was no other way to describe the way Sephiroth interacted with her family. He was a giant dork! He stole cookie dough and tasted dinner before it was done. He gave all three of the women flowers and other small gifts, and usually initiated dirt fights when they showed him how to tend plants. And that was without even touching on what he did with the hose!

She honestly wondered what it would take for her to fear Sephiroth now that she had really gotten to know him.

"Your first experience with the real me came when I was delirious." She pointed out. "Are you sure your opinion isn't somewhat skewed by that?" This drew a smirk from the man that Rill was quick to avert her eyes from. For all that she had admitted to herself, and Aeris, that she was attracted to Genesis, she wasn't blind either and Sephiroth was a very attractive man. And it was much harder to not blush when she wasn't wearing the secretary persona.

"Oh yes. You know, Auntie told me something rather interesting..." Rill felt a thrill of horror shoot up her spine.

"Whatever you are about to say, I deny." Sephiroth simply leaned down a little, continuing as if she hadn't spoken.

"She said that whenever you get delirious, or are on medication, you become very honest. Somewhat similar to an honest drunk." _Oh Goddess. What in the world did I say that still has him this amused almost three months after the fact?_ This was something he had only started doing after he got to know Elmyra and Aeris. But him actively teasing her without playing off of her aunt and cousin was a new and uncomfortable feeling. Rill groaned and hid her face in her arms so she didn't have to see his face. Just made ignoring his good looks easier.

 _My reputation! Alas, where art thou...?_

"I must say, considering your apparent lack of reaction. I was starting to wonder if you preferred women." She felt her face burn. _What life do I have where my boss teases me about my sexual preference?_

 _Going by what I know? A fairly normal one._

 _That wasn't directed at you, dearest cousin._

"Are you almost done?" She mumbled into her arms, trying very hard not to fall into complete despair. There came a beat of silence.

"...does it bother you that much?" Rill smiled, her expression safely hidden. Zack and Reno would have kept on teasing her, the former accidentally and the latter very, very deliberately. But not Sephiroth, no. Sephiroth reacted almost instantly and backed off the moment she showed discomfort. She sat up, rubbing the bridge of her nose under her glasses.

"It's still rather new to have my boss tease me in general, let alone about my sexual orientation."

"Why do you wear the glasses?" The complete change in topic almost made Rill stumble. Almost.

"They make me look older and most of the people I have to deal with won't listen to a teenager." She answered promptly and simply. Sephiroth carefully lifted the frames off of her face and looked through them critically.

"These are real glasses though?" She smiled faintly and shook her head.

"They're good fakes. They've got to look authentic." Catlike green eyes gazed down at her with a note of disapproval.

"That isn't good for your eyes."

"If I were wearing someone else's prescription frames, yes. But these are custom made for me, Sephiroth. I'm not gonna wreck my eyes." The general contemplated the frames in his hand once again..then he put them on.

In his work attire, the frames added a certain human like quality to him, even if the new emphasis on his eyes might unnerve some people. Rill hummed as she looked him over, more interested in noting the changes.

"Huh. If SOLDIER didn't already have 20-20 vision, I'd recommend the look."

"You think so?" Sephiroth tilted his head questioningly.

"Well if you're going for something a little more approachable than usual, absolutely." Rill considered his appearance for a moment... "Maybe a tinted pair, the Mako glow looks weird from this side."

"It's also reflecting off the lens in the wrong direction." Sephiroth absently picked up a cookie, pumpkin spice in line with the season, as he checked his image Rill's window. "Makes me look a little nerdy."

"Exactly. I already said it makes you more approachable." The conversation was halted by Rill's PHS ringing. She only glanced at the number before it felt like her heart had stopped.

 _Genesis._ The Planet was silent as Sephiroth leaned over her shoulder to take a look at the ID. His brows rose slightly.

"He's back early." He sounded a little strange to her, but that was probably due to her pulse suddenly roaring in her ears.

"I know." Rill forced her heart to remain still as she glanced up at her boss and friend. He waved her on, stealing another five cookies and ambling back into his office. The privacy was appreciated as Rill answered the call.

"Genesis?" There came a soft sigh from the other end of the phone.

" _It is wonderful to hear your voice again."_ She swallowed and licked her lips nervously. What did one say to someone who had essentially asked you to elope with him? Especially if you had turned him down!?

"I didn't think you'd be back in service range for another two days." _What are you doing? This was your chance..._

" _There have been too many casualties and prisoners taken in the last few skirmishes. They're calling me back to rest up."_ Casualties could be real, but Rill would bet that almost all of the prisoners were preliminary deserters who were scattering and going to ground until...something. Some signal for action took place.

"How far away are you?" She asked, casting her senses about for some sign of him. He wasn't anywhere in the building...

" _We're just over Kalm now. Be landing in about three hours. Are you busy tonight?"_ Rill felt a shiver crawl down her back. _Please say he isn't going to ask me again..._

"Pending an unforeseen disaster, no."

" _Meet me on Loveless Avenue."_ Rill felt a spark of...something.

"It's generally good manners to ask instead of demand." She said dryly. She was rewarded by a brief chuckle.

" _Alright. Rill, would you do me the honor of meeting me on Loveless Avenue tonight at five?"_

"Much better. I'll message you if something comes up, but hopefully I'll see you tonight."

"' _There is no hate, only joy. For you are beloved by the goddess.'."_ It made her the tiniest bit uncomfortable that Genesis made this sound as though he was referring to himself, and that she was the goddess. But it also made her blush in spite of herself. It proved to be Genesis's farewell as he hung up there after. Rill had only just regained her composure and started thumbing through a novel Emma had recommended when she realized that her newest friend had been right:

Genesis had asked her out when he came back.

And she had just said yes.

 _Hell's Bells, why...?_

Rill then began to very fervently pray that some unmitigated disaster would take place that would let her skip out on meeting up with her friend without outright standing him up.

There wasn't. Rill managed to keep her evening's plans a secret in spite of Zack enthusiastically asking if she wanted to come hang out with him and some of his peers who had returned safely to celebrate those who had come back, and those who would never leave Wutai again. It was a tradition for any and every member of the army who could be off duty for the night.

She begged off and went to the prearranged meeting place after catching herself and changing out of her work clothes and into something more casual. Strictly casual. _Not dating him. Not dressing to impress._

Genesis was still in his red leather coat.

"You don't do inconspicuous that well, do you?" She asked as she approached the bench where he waited for her. His head whipped around towards her, promptly fixating her with a SOLDIER's eerie stare. Rill hid a grimace as she tried to walk normally. Her own steps crashed like a behemoth's in her own ears whenever she used her Tremor-sense materia. So she had gotten into the habit of stepping as lightly as she could when using the materia, if only to spare herself a headache. Apparently it was enough for a distracted SOLDIER to not hear her coming.

"Rill."

Before she could move, he had risen, crossed the distance between them and hugged her. The breath whooshed out of her as he pulled her into him. He seemed to be trying to fold himself around her. Once she managed to get her arms situated, she returned the embrace. Carefully because when she was this close, she could sense that his shoulder was paining him.

She almost didn't want to ask why he was here when he had told her himself that he was going to desert. It felt like it would shatter the moment of peace. Rill knew she would have to ask, eventually, but for now...

"Genesis." She said a little weakly after he didn't let her go for a while. "Unenhanced human. Kinda need to breathe...!"

"Breathing is overrated." He said, his face buried in her hair.

"Then why are you sniffing my hair?" She sassed, shifting and stepping back. Or trying to. He didn't let go right away so she thought she would actually have to squirm free. But he did loosen his grip eventually, though a hand stayed on her shoulder as he looked her over carefully. Rill resisted the urge to roll her eyes...

Actually, no she didn't. She did roll her eyes.

"I'm not going to fall sick and die right in front of you. Honestly, why does everyone do that now?"

"Because I worry about you." He replied, lifting her glasses away from her face. She gave him a flat look.

"You're giving those back to me."

"I will not deprive myself of seeing your eyes unhindered." He said, the new lines on his face smoothing into something more recognizable. _Typical Genesis._ She thought, holding out her hand for her glasses.

"Then I won't wear them, but I'll take them back all the same. The last pair I took off and left in someone else's possession ended up inside Dark Nation." His eyes glittered with interest and amusement.

"Oh? Do tell. It sounds as though you've been busy while I was gone."

Genesis never did give her back her glasses as they walked together. He just kept on plying her for stories about what had transpired while he was in Wutai. They were both ignoring the elephant in the room in favor of pretending that everything was normal.

She had just finished telling him about what would thereafter be referred to as the Otter Incident when a quartet of SOLDIER and their company for the evening hailed Genesis. There also came a wolf whistle from one of them that was hastily cut off with a pained yelp, one of the not too bright man's friends kicking his shin. It still served to sour Genesis's mood and make him glare bright blue daggers at the man.

"Let it go, Gen." Rill said soothingly, placing her hand over his arm where she could sense his bangle was. The heat died away almost instantly.

"It's disgraceful..." He said grouchily.

"It will be hilarious tomorrow once Tom realizes that it was me." Rill said pertly, reaching out with her aura to soothe Genesis ruffled feathers instinctively. She was repelled by the Calamity in his system but she reached beyond it and touched Genesis directly. The tension melted away fro his shoulders and his eyes flicked over to her, much more like a relaxed cat than the nervous, irritable tiger he had been before.

"Are you aware that you do that?"

"I'm aware that do something." She admitted. "The technical terms escape me though."

"Very little about that is technical." Genesis breathed, his hand finding hers and suddenly making her very uncertain. Did she let him hold it or not? Was he being friendly or flirty right now?

She twisted her wrist gently and freed it from his reluctant grasp.

"Genesis...?" She began. "Why did you come back?"

It was as if the whole world had suddenly gotten louder in the following silence.

Rill felt a faint prickle of warning from the Planet but she ignored it. Genesis halted in the street, gazing up at the various posters and advertisements around the street.

"I'm still going through with it, Rill." She would deny that she felt a pang of disappointment at the admission.

"I hadn't thought you'd changed your mind." She whispered very, very quietly. "I just hoped that you had..." Genesis looked at her abruptly, something akin to hope in his eyes. She ignored his silent demand for her to elaborate. _Not going there._

"That doesn't answer my question though: Why did you come back to Midgar?" As far as she could see, if he wanted to desert, he had the means and plans set to do so. Why bother coming back and causing himself more pain?

"Rill...Do you want me to tell you?" He asked her, their conversation never rising above a murmur. "There are things I can't speak of, but I will tell you what I can." She gently pulled her hand back when he tried to take it again. Her answer was unchanged in that regard and she saw the same let down look that she had seen before.

"I do and I don't." She admitted. "I want to understand why you're doing what you are, but I also don't want to have to lie if anyone asks me once you go." Genesis was silent for a moment, slowing to a stop.

"There's someone I still need to collect before I can leave." Rill's heart started racing and her body tensed. _He's not talking about me, is he?_ "And I wanted to see you again." Probably not her though.

"It won't be quiet when you go then." She stated. Genesis shook his head, not looking at her.

"Not in the least. Very messy, very dangerous. There isn't time to be delicate about this." The light was fading, people were already heading inside as autumn nipped the air, even in the city. Then there came a sudden flash and Rill suddenly saw/heard/felt something/somewhere else.

 _The tall glittering building glittering in an October orange evening sky. The echo of a final bell's toll rang through the air. There came a few scattered crashes from the city and an animalistic roar and smoke began to rise from various places in the city along with screams. A few brief minutes later, something erupted from the side of Shinra's HQ, only a few floors from the top. It was a small explosion, but a burst of fire nonetheless and a shock wave that shattered the glass in most of the windows on that side of the building and alarms began to wail._

 _MIdgar was being attacked._

She came back to reality to realize that she had staggered and was currently being held by an extremely worried commander.

"-can you hear me!? Rill, say something!" The young woman had rarely ever sounded so young, or despairing as she did then. Because this was another iron clad certainty. But unlike the first such image Rill had received, there was no altering this one. Because it was already upon them.

"Genesis..." She looked at him, seeing relief on his face as he held her closer to him.

"Rill, are you alright?" She ignored him as a tear fell from her eye.

"Genesis...what are you doing...?" There came a soft chime from one of the stubborn old churches that Shinra hadn't been able to plow over. Seven o'clock. The relief vanished from Genesis eyes, replaced with horror as his head snapped up.

Then the air rent itself in a roar and then Rill heard someone scream.

"That pompous dramatic fool...!" Genesis seethed under his breath, gathering Rill up in his arms without letting her get to her feet and starting to run. "He said he was leaving quietly...!"

Aeris was pressing on Rill's thoughts, having heard the initial echo of the cry.

 _Rill! Rill what was that noise!?_

 _I don't know yet. My head's spinning too much to understand anything the Planet is trying to tell me, I think I blacked out for a moment. You try and make some sense of it._ The Planet was screaming, desperately warning her to get away from where she was because she was in very, very great danger. Rill's head throbbed and she reached for her Cure materia in her bangle to try and give her some relief and let her think. Genesis was covering ground quickly, running away from the conflict and it was conflict. She heard the shouts of fighting men and the shrieks of monsters. Rill's PHS was vibrating madly against her leg, silenced since she had been planning on spending time with Genesis.

"Genesis, what did you do...?" She found herself repeating in a tone that was very near breaking. His hands tightened on her, pulling her closer.

"I didn't want it like this." He said fervently. "I didn't want to come back only to have to leave you again. I'm sorry Rill, I'm so sorry..." He sounded like he was on the verge of babbling. Something made of steel in a forge flared to life inside Rill, new strength and clarity flooding her thoughts. There was a crisis at hand. And what Nerilka Thomas did when faced with such issues was get to the bottom of it and fix it.

 _Monsters have been let loose inside the city, upper plate only._ Aeris reported through the panicked warbling from the Planet that filled Rill's mind. _She says it's a distraction from something, but she won't say more, only that you're in trouble. Rill, get out of there!_

"Genesis Rhapsodos." Her voice came out much stronger and sharper than before. "You will put me down. Right now." To her surprise, he did so, gazing down at her with a strange sort of soft yet heated look on his face.

Rill stood up to her inches and glared him in the eye.

"You will either explain yourself, get back there and fight off those monsters or I will run back there myself." She had more than enough magic to help at the very least. The infuriating man had the nerve to smile at her, though it was a strained expression.

"I came back for Hollander." He ran a hand down the side of her face. "I'd much rather be taking you than him, but he's the one who can cure me. He wants something from inside the building, something from the archives and the main lab, but he was supposed to get them quietly. I don't know what he's thinking." Rill batted his hand aside with a furious shake of her head, starting back the way he had come.

"Alright, so you're going to be on the run with a deranged lunatic of a scientist." Sarcasm dripped from her words. She didn't have much to do with Hollander, but she didn't like him. It had very little to do with the Planet murmuring of caution, she just didn't like the guy! He was more than laid back, he was outright disgusting in some of his habits! Hojo usually got so involved in his work that he occasionally neglected himself. Hollander was just a slob and a jealous one at that!

Her first order of business to was to oversee that the civilians were out of harm's' way then to see about the security breach in the building.

Rill had just barely pulled her PHS from her pocket and flipped it open when she felt a wave of magic wash over her that she recognized. It was telling her soft, gentle things of sweet dreams and peace... Her muscles relaxed as she swayed, her grip on her phone loosening and letting it fall to the asphalt with a clatter that was lost in the clamor of sirens and monster cries.

 _Sleep spell._ Rill focused, blowing through the materia induced suggestion and whirling on Genesis who was steadily approaching her.

"What are you doing!?" She demanded of him even as the force that was trying to render her unconscious became more powerful. Rill drew on her inner strength to fight against the hypnotic command, her materia bangle starting to give off new power.

"You can't get involved." Genesis said simply, gaze boring into her own. "I won't have you be in any more danger."

"You have noticed the guardhounds and sundry other monsters? The ones that had been scheduled for euthanization and are now running amuck in the city?" Rill scoffed. "It's not any safer here than anywhere else in the city right now." Genesis brows furrowed as she continued to resist his spell.

"How are you still awake?"

"Why are you trying to put me to sleep in the first place?!" Her patience was rapidly running out with this whole situation. She had only a Cure, her Tremor-sense and an Ice in her bangle right now, but she could still help.

Genesis took hold of her wrists in a grip that she couldn't free herself from.

"I don't want you to get involved." He repeated. "I will likely have to fight...people that you know. And you won't be able to bear that and would try and defend them."

"Of course I would! What are you doing!? Let go of me, Genesis!"

"I could not live with myself if I harmed you, Rill..." Genesis's voice shook only slightly. She felt him power up the Sleep materia again, this time at point blank range. Defiance and anger ripped through her. It was strange, for all that she cared for him deeply, would even say that she loved him, Rill could never recall being this furious at anyone ever before in her life.

 _Ponder that later._ She gritted her teeth against the first invasion of power. She had to get free. She was exhausting herself resisting his spells and had to build some range if she was to have a chance at getting away.

Rill wrenched her wrists against Genesis's grip until she was certain she had bruised them, then channeled her Cure materia to mend the damage.

Even though it was only a minor boost when compared to a SOLDIER's strength, the extra energy in her limbs still let her wrench free from his grasp as she twisted her wrists just so and stumbled away from him. Even before her wrists were free, Rill poured power into her Ice materia, but carefully controlling what she wanted it to do. She blew a stream of frigid magic onto Genesis's face, freezing his eyes shut which caused him to flinch away with a grunt as he tried to claw his vision free. Then she altered her intent almost completely. Cool, but not ice, and not set and solid. Not crystal...

Using materia was a matter of intent. The generalized Cetra memories were of a basic element, or concept, and usually the user could only operate around that one concept. The further away one got from that core, the more skill it took to use it. Rill hadn't even known she was this proficient with her power, operating mostly on instinct.

Plumes of mist spouted into the air rapidly thickening into a nigh impenetrable barrier as Rill encouraged it to become thicker and thicker. Breaking line of sight on a target made it much more difficult to cast magic on them specifically. Once Rill had her cover, she put power into her Tremor-sense materia and instantly became aware of where Genesis was, even though she couldn't see a thing. He still hadn't cleared his sight completely and there was plenty of noise.

She could hear the Planet now, it was calmer, a little. Repeatedly telling her that she had to get away from Genesis. And for once she agreed. She knew what Hollander was after, and right now she was a witness...And right now she wished that she had said something about Genesis's intentions to leave. She had thought he would slip away quietly and not cause any damage to the citizens of Midgar...

She started to move away, towards an ally mouth that had plenty of turns, twists and double backs. If she were in the slums, she could have gotten away within five minutes. But above the Plate...

"Rill!?" Genesis called out. He had stopped moving and was listening intently. Rill froze where she was, still pumping more and more mist into the air, sweat forming on her brow along with condensation from the water vapor. Her wrists still ached slightly from where Genesis had held them and her heart raced with equal parts fear and anger. But her mind was calm and serene and that was what was controlling her magic right now.

"Simply amazing..." The 1st Class SOLDIER marvelled. "To think you were this skilled in materia all along..." Rill moved as he did, taking steps only when he was speaking. He was casting about carefully. She could hear the humming of the materia in his bangle-

Then there came an explosion that rocked the world and felt like it tore Rill's ears to shreds. She cried out, clapping her hands over her ears and she tried to stay awake. She released her extra sensory materia and just ran, blundering as her head rang with phantom explosions in her mind. It was all in her head, the human ear couldn't be extended that far, but it was still jarring to say the least.

She had barely gone a few steps before Genesis caught her and the last thing he saw was him looking down at her and saying something that she couldn't hear even as he finally managed to spell her unconscious.

* * *

Sephiroth heard the first cries as he finished up work for the day. Rill had gone home a little early so he had stayed behind to organize her desk for her. A bit of a reversal in roles, but something he was glad to do nonetheless. Rill worked too hard for her own good.

He had to restrain himself from looking into the drawer in her desk where she kept a stock of sweets for anyone who came back from the labs in need of a sugary snack. She had not been pleased when he had cleaned the whole thing out and started taking her desk apart in search for more during his last Mako high.

The peace of the evening was abruptly shattered when he heard roars from outside. Sephiroth was at the window in an instant, seeing and hearing evidence of fighting. He scanned the areas that he could pinpoint.

 _Four locations in sectors 7, 8, 2, 3._

Rill's apartment was in Sector 3.

His first instinct was to call her and make sure she was alright. But he had his duty too...

A text from Angeal made him relax marginally.

To: Seph

From: Angeal

" _I got this."_

The black haired 1st Class didn't have to spell out what he expected Sephiroth to do. The silverette thanked his friend profusely in his mind as he hit his first speed dial number to check up on Rill. It was all he could do to not race out and check on her in person and he reminded himself that the fighting was nowhere near her apartment building.

He was just going to warn her to stay inside then he was going to get back to work. She was a big girl, and tougher than he probably knew from her childhood below the Plate. There was no reason for him to panic over her. She was probably already aware of the situation and ensuring that other civilians made it to safety while giving commands to men that outweighed her three times over and obeyed her without hesitation.

Sephiroth ground his teeth as the line just kept ringing...

 _She's going to call me overprotective and a worrier. Everything is going to be fine. She can take care of herself and will likely tell me that in no uncertain terms. Just as soon as she picks up...!_

It went to her messages.

Rill never failed to pick up her phone. She usually answered after the first ring, like she was expecting whoever was calling.

Sephiroth tried again, rooted to the spot as he stared over the city. He had never been frozen like this before. Never been this afraid...

When it went to her messages the second time, Sephiroth punched a few commands into his phone to turn on the tracker in her PHS even as he headed for the stairwell and a brisk walk. Rill had had them installed in all of the company-issued phones. It was usually a precaution that she used to track down errant personnel, usually Zack, occasionally Reno. But the same software that transmitted their information to her also let her location be seen by Sephiroth, who had the same program on his device. Something she knew about and didn't mind.

When her location appeared on the map, Sephiroth broke into an outright run, jumping down the stairs a flight at a time.

Rill wasn't at home. She was in Sector 8. On Loveless Avenue. Less than two hundred feet from combat that he had seen from the window. And it was heading her way.

He didn't care who saw him as he ran, or what would be said as he continually called Rill as he made his way closer to where she was, moving with the speed only a SOLDIER of his caliber could. Sephiroth intent was simple:

Rill was not going to get hurt. That would be unacceptable. The height of betrayal to her friendship and trust and to the family that had welcomed him into their life.

Finally, she picked up.

"Rill-!" He cut off abruptly when there came the sound of clattering and his mind realized what had happened.

Rill had dropped her phone.

 _No..._ He corrected himself, moving faster and this time, in complete silence. _Something made her drop her phone._ He deliberately silenced his phone so no sound from his end would make it through the connection and betray that someone was listening. Rill was in danger and the most important thing in the world right now was to get to her as fast as he possibly could.

" _What are you doing!?"_ Rill's voice sounded clear and angry, a combination of his sharp senses and the good quality speaker she possessed. But Sephiroth just listened with every fiber of concentration that wasn't being devoted towards running.

" _You can't get involved. I won't have you be in any more danger."_ That voice...

" _You have noticed the guardhounds_ _and sundry other monsters? The ones that had been scheduled for euthanization and are now running amuck in the streets? It's not any safer here than anywhere else in the city right now!"_ She was truly rattled, completely and utterly in her actual mind. The calm secretary was only there in token effort for composure's sake.

There came a brief pause and he heard Rill gasp once and he held his breath but heard no cry of pain.

Sephiroth was getting closer to Loveless Avenue. He veered to avoid a burning street where infantry and civilians were handling a bucket brigade until the fire department arrived.

" _How are you still awake?"_

" _Why are you trying to put me to sleep in the first place?!"_

Sephiroth didn't think it was possible for him to move any faster, but he abruptly found that he had been wrong. Why was Genesis trying to put Rill to sleep? Why was he with her in the first place? Unless he was the reason she had left work early... That was likely it. There came the sound of a scuffle.

" _I don't want you to get involved. I will likely have to fight...people that you know. And you won't be able to bear that and would try and defend them."_

 _"Of course I would! What are you doing!? Let go of me, Genesis!"_

Purpose and determination flowed through Sephiroth as he ran. He might have been jumping the gun, but it sounded as though Genesis may have been behind this attack on the city. If he attacked Genesis while trying to retrieve Rill, there would be quite a bit of blow back if he was wrong, but if he was right...

" _I could not live with myself if I harmed you, Rill..."_

The wrenching pain of betrayal ripped into him but he beat it back.

 _Save Rill._ He thought clearly and purposefully. He would be angry later. He would ask why later. None of that mattered right now.

There came the sound of a scuffle and a soft hissing noise then soft footfalls that he could barely hear through the small speaker. Rill was likely trying to escape.

" _Rill!?"_ Genesis's voice came through Sephiroth's phone alarmed, but not overly concerned. " _Simply amazing...To think you were this skilled in materia all along..."_ So she had used some kind of magical trick to make her escape. Clever girl.

Then Sephiroth heard a sound from two places. He whipped his head around for an instant to see that a floor in the Shinra building had exploded in a burst of crimson fire and the screech of shattering glass as hundred of windows broke into glittering fragments. But that lost priority dramatically when he heard Rill scream in pain, and not through the phone.

"Rill...!" Sephiroth was barely two streets away, taking the swiftest, most direct route that he could. It was as though the device was welded to his hand, he couldn't stop listening for some sign, something that told him if she was alright...

" _I'm sorry..."_ Genesis sounded truly and deeply regretful. There was the sound of movement and cloth on stone. " _You must stay safe until I can come back for you. Wait for me, my goddess..."_ Sephiroth's pulse was roaring in his ears as he grasped Masamune's hilt as the last words echoed in his ears.

" _I love you."_

There was mist in the air as he rounded the bend and cast his phone aside, trusting to the sturdy casing to protect it from the fall. He needed both hands for this. The white vapor in the air tasted magical, but he could barely see a thing in it's depths. Sephiroth cleared it with a burst of fire, evaporating and clearing the fog. Before he could even see clearly what was in before him, he had pushed himself, casting Haste on himself and blitzing over the ground at impossible speeds. He swept past the red blur, bashing Masamune's hilt into it's shoulder to force it, him, to release what he held. He slowed as soon as he had Rill in his possession, her fragile body not being suited to moving at that velocity. Not without her also being under Haste's influence. He reflexively checked her over and found, thank the merciful Goddess, that she was only asleep. He then turned a cold, unblinking gaze onto Genesis. There was no mirth in his friend's bitter smile as he lifted his head to look at Sephiroth.

"I'll have to leave her to you, my friend." The last words dripped with poison that Sephiroth had never heard in Genesis before.

"You're deserting the company."

"Obviously." He said mockingly. "It's plain to see that Shinra will never want anyone to dethrone their poster child. There's no way of beating you so long as we're on the same side!"

"What do you want with Rill then?" Sephiroth shifted Masamune in his grasp so that he could easily block any attack that might come at his precious cargo. He was skilled, likely the best in the world. But if Genesis wanted to fight, then he would be hard pressed to keep Rill unharmed, helpless as she was.

This seemed to break something in the red haired man.

His head was bowed and his shoulders shook even as he clutched the one where Sephiroth had struck him. The general paused, trying to determine in his friend was crying or in pain...

That's when Genesis started to laugh. Not the controlled chuckles or sounds of genuine amusement he had given before, but a deranged, broken laugh. The composure Genesis usually embodied in his conduct was gone.

 _Genesis was gone._

"It's not something that I want _with_ her! It's her I want! But I suppose that the great General Sephiroth doesn't concern himself with the trivial feelings of us, lesser beings!" There was a venomous gleam in the glow that Genesis's eyes gave off. But that wasn't what made Sephiroth's shoulders tense.

What unsettled him was the fact that his friend's eyes had changed.

The same vivid green, cat slit eyes that greeted him in the mirror every morning stared back at him out of his friend's face. But in his eyes, there was malice and hate. There was an unquenchable desire for pain.

"I'll kill you..." Genesis all but hissed, pupils narrowing. Rapier came up, already glimmering with magic. Sephiroth usually could catch him in this and interrupt him and avoid the half charged spell easily. But he had more than just himself to think about.

He half turned into his usual stance, straight and tall with one shoulder facing his opponent, placing himself between Rill and Genesis. He called up every ounce of magic he could, channeling it into a Barrier materia and erecting as dense and perfect a protection around Rill as he could, for magic and physical attacks alike.

It wouldn't take long for people to notice this fight, judging by how their last few bouts had gone. And this was with far greater stakes. Genesis wouldn't try to control himself, he wanted to win and wouldn't care what it cost it took on their surroundings.

The tense assessment of each other, mere seconds before they were about to begin fighting, ended abruptly when Rill stirred, a soft, sleepy sound coming from her. Sephiroth didn't take his eyes off of his opponent, so he caught when Genesis's eyes flicked to Rill.

And just like that, he was back. His eyes were their normal bright, SOLDIER blue again.

Rill's hand took hold of Sephiroth's coat, tightening as she very obviously forced herself into wakefulness. _I had no idea your magic resistance was this high..._ Sephiroth thought, impressed despite the tense situation.

Genesis seemed poised on the edge of a knife. He wanted to fight, but didn't want to hurt Rill. His gaze focused back on Sephiroth and he all but snarled, lowering his sword.

" _When the war of the beast's brings about the world's end..._ " With this as a parting remark and with a final glare at Sephiroth he disappeared into the growing darkness of evening at a run. Sephiroth didn't lower his guard until he was certain that he wasn't trying to come at him from the side. The noise behind him was dying down. The monsters had been handled. Even the sirens had stopped wailing.

It left no other noise loud enough to drown out the almost silent crying of the girl he held.


	15. Recovery

Sheathing Masamune, Sephiroth scooped Rill up to carry her more easily, heading for the trains that went below the Plate. Rill needed to be with her family right now. He didn't put her down, instead he just carried her. She didn't have the strength to do anything but sob into his coat. Once they were sitting down and the train was moving, Sephiroth lifted a hand to gently stroke her hair, the way he had seen Elmyra do to her daughters. (They were both her daughters, blood be damned.)

He didn't have any words to say. His own mind was still catching up to the reality that he would likely be sent abroad to hunt down one of his friends as soon as he reported back. Genesis was gone. Genesis wanted him dead. There was something wrong with him, something else pushing him.

 _He's gone. He's gone and he left me here._ Sephiroth couldn't muster any words of comfort for himself or for Rill, who he had never seen look so weak and broken before. But just holding her, letting her cry on him, comforting her in silence...it made him feel just a little less angry and betrayed.

For all that people were still in an uproar above the Plate, things were much quieter down below. People had heard the noise, but there had been hardly any violence down here. That and the citizens of Sector Five gave him a wide berth when they saw him carrying Rill home. Some children raced on ahead, doubtless to inform Aeris and Elmyra that he was coming, but Sephiroth just moved at a steady pace.

It seemed wrong to have Rill in tears. He definitely didn't like it. It was strange to have her be brought low at all, to see that she could be something other than the strong, sassy woman that he knew so well.

"This will change everything." He began, speaking quietly to her. "If he's willing to make an open declaration of war like this, he'll probably come back and try for you again." He fought to make sure his grip didn't tighten to the point of pain on her. Genesis leaving hurt. But if Genesis had succeeded in taking her with him... Rill being gone would shake his world down to the foundations. Sephiroth didn't know what Genesis' intentions were with Rill, but he found he didn't much care.

 _She stays with me. She stays safe._ He repeated to himself as he walked. _I won't let anything hurt you._ Rill was vulnerable. She wasn't a SOLDIER. And she was one of the most important things in his life.

The flower bedecked house soon opened up before him, the faint natural light creating sunbeams in which hundreds of flowers and other greenery flourished. The slum people held them in a curious sort of reverence. No one dared to set foot here unless invited by one of the house's inhabitants.

It was the closest thing Sephiroth had ever felt to coming home. Elmyra was waiting at the door with a worried look on her face. Aeris was already coming towards them, snaking her hand into her cousin's a squeezing, meeting her gaze with a look that said things that speech could never convey.

"Please put me down Sephiroth..." Rill's voice was very small, but it was steady. The general glanced down at his friend and saw resolute determination in her gaze. She had been hurt, but she was determined to pull herself back up and forge onward. But he glanced at Aeris for affirmation first, before setting the girl back on her feet.

He could understand, in a way. Rill had just suffered a terrible blow and the last thing she wanted to do was feel helpless.

"I'll be by soon." He told the pair of them, resting his hands lightly on his secretary's shoulders. Aeris's soulful green eyes, a calmer, more natural shade than his own, met his with a soft smile that conveyed both love, sadness and support. He felt the familiar sensation of peace that accompanied the cousins and his shoulders relaxed slightly.

"We'll be here for you."

 _You'll be here for me? It's Rill who needs us now._

* * *

It was hell returning to work again after Genesis very publicly and openly ran out. Rill read the reports of that day. Apparently, Hollander had stolen from the archives, then broken into Hojo's personal research lab with about half a dozen 3rd Class SOLDIER and made off with a large amount of his files. Hojo's counter measures against the release of a dangerous experiment had caused the explosion. The Mirainin Sabertooth Tiger's senses were among the keenest in the natural world, so the blast was mostly flash and noise to stun it long enough for the tranquilizer in it's collar to take effect.

The duty rosters were sliced down to two thirds of their former strength. The entire portion of the army that Genesis commanded, the spell caster primaries, had followed their commander into infamy, although most of them had slipped away quietly.

One or two of them had been captured and it was clarified as to why no one had caught wind of this plan before hand.

It was only done through word of mouth and when they were outside the city. And somehow, the deep, abiding loyalty that the upper ranks of SOLDIER gave to their division commander translated to them not saying an audible word about it. There were some reports of the occasional drunk mouthing off, but everyone talked about leaving the company after a bad day or week at work. It was only given token inspection.

Unfortunately for their efforts to intercept Genesis and Hollander, none of the would be deserters knew much of the main plan or if there even was one.

"In light of what has occurred, pursuing Genesis will have to be put on the back burner until we manage to subdue Wutai." Rufus remarked to Rill as she delivered a report of what was missing from the archives.

Even though she had been working for Shinra for over a year, Rill couldn't help but feel tired at the mere mention of continued warfare. It sickened her, that President Shinra was willing to wage war for something so moronic as the right to build Mako reactors in the country. But she supposed that until he conquered it, his monopoly on energy wouldn't be complete and thus threaten him. Cosmo Canyon was left alone for the most part since there wasn't enough of a population there to warrant a worthwhile profit.

"Understood, sir." Rill replied, her expression more flat than serene.

Her being the last person with an encounter with Genesis had made her an invaluable witness, even if his apparent romantic interest in her made her a potential liability as well. Sephiroth had needed to be...rather scary in order to get some of the more twitchy individuals to quiet down.

But her position, hopefully, was still secure in spite of her interaction with Genesis. She still hadn't said a word that he had told her months ago what he was intending to do. Nor was she at all inclined to mention that he had asked her to come along.

"Rill, what would it take for you to be open about what I'm about to ask you?" Rufus's question caught her even as she was about to exit the room.

"I believe I have asked you to not call me by that name, sir." Rill said calmly. She had a lot of other stuff that she would rather be doing than talking to Rufus right now.

"You have, but as there aren't that many secrets between us, I think we're all past the largest formalities." He was right there, she'd admit it, however unwillingly. Since she had first spotted what he was planning, Rill had seen his maneuvers everywhere even though she had never gotten involved unless it was too wasteful a move for her jurisdiction. It galled her that she was helping him even though she didn't like him but he still wasn't satisfied and seemed very determined to win back the fragile trust that had formed between them.

Dark Nation twined around her, nuzzling her hands deliberately.

"Just spit it out. What do you want to know?" Rill said, unable to muster the will to be her usual icy self. She supposed that since someone she had been romantically pursued by had just up and become a criminal on a fairly global scale, she was allowed to be a little less hard.

"Did you have any idea of what he was planning?" She didn't sense any trap, just him honestly wanting to know. To scope out the range of her capabilities as it were.

"I suspected something was amiss. But not on this scale." Rill said, her back still turned. "I could see that Commander Rhapsodos was becoming more and more aggressive in interactions with certain people. But it never got out of hand and was not terribly unusual, at least from what I could see, so I didn't draw attention to it."

"The commander gets ancy very frequently before he gets deployed." Rufus said flatly. "And it should come as no surprise that he wasn't antagonistic or harsh with you around." _Oh Shiva was everyone in on that?!_

"He indicated he wished to move our relationship to another level before he was deployed to Wutai two months ago." Her tone was bland and neutral, as though she weren't speaking about herself at all. "I turned him down, but he still didn't change his behavior towards me." That should have sent up some eyebrows if nothing else. Rill wondered why in the world she was telling this to Rufus of all people. Dark Nation sat by her side and leaned against her leg, rumbling contentedly as she scratched his ears.

Genesis didn't take being turned down well. It was akin to dumping a container on a fire without knowing if it was filled with water, oil or fireworks. It could smother it with steam, hissing and it would die a rather noisy death. It could cause it to flare wildly, spit and roar and be rather dangerous for anyone nearby. Or it could simply explode. For nothing to happen at all was curious, but not worrying unless you knew Genesis well.

"I see..." There was a moment of silence in which Rill could feel Rufus's eye fixed on her back. "There will be nothing else, Miss Nerilka." She walked out of the office without another word. But regardless of her composed face and words to Rufus, Rill felt the niggling, gnawing guilt that hadn't let her get any peace since Genesis had made his intentions known.

 _I could have stopped him._

* * *

Aeris was working constantly, meditating and praying frequently to try and produce some solution to the danger the Calamity's posed towards human life. Genesis' actions indicated that it was moving into an active stage of it's plans, since they knew that the Calamity had some influence over him.

"Genesis meant you no harm." She said certainly. "I think he loves you too much to even tolerate the notion of you being in danger."

"Why knock me unconscious then if he wasn't going to abduct me and take me along, placing me in incredible danger?" Rill asked, smoothing dirt over some new seedlings in the garden. Angeal and Zack, along with Sephiroth and many other SOLDIER executives had gone over to Wutai in effort to capture the last remaining fortress and end the war quickly now that Genesis had gone rogue.

That had been almost a month ago. The fort had fallen quickly, but there were still pockets of unrest that couldn't be turned away from, thus the delay. It felt strange to walk into the office in the morning and have Emma there reporting to her about the day's business instead of doing the same to Sephiroth. And if that was weird, it was nothing compared to the fact that there was literally hardly anything that got her out of the office throughout her entire workday! Such was life when Zack was away. Surprisingly, Rill actually found herself being bored! She had made some progress in other ways to smuggle herself out of the Shinra if it became necessary. (She had a feeling that some of the Turks went through her files regularly to get ideas about how to catch border hopping...)

That stupid little voice inside her head that taunted her with 'what if' had faded, but hadn't died completely

Something that stayed constant, or actually become more frequent, was Reno sauntering into her office and sprawling out on the couch in a light doze that he snapped awake from given an unusual noise. He was around a lot more often despite how busy the Turks were in organizing a party to negotiate the final land contracts in Wutai. Then again, Veld wasn't so mad as to have Reno involved in anything that had to do with peace. She suspected he sent Reno to her on purpose, thinking she would keep him out of trouble, and the laid back youth took advantage of her being occupied in order to nap. She didn't mind the company, when he felt like being helpful, and he definitely didn't mind monopolizing her for food.

The only influence Zack had had in her life for the last three weeks was something that had made her want to laugh and cry at the same time. In spite of his fighting Wutian rebels, and his worry at Angeal's absence, he still found the time and resources to mail some Wutian native flower seeds to Rill. He seemed to have gone on a crusade to cheer her up ever since the event, and was determined to not fail in his self appointed duty. What did being halfway around the world have to do with anything when Zack Fair had made a solemn vow?

" _I hereby swear on my honor as a SOLDIER that I will make Rill actually smile again!"_ He had even gone on one knee and everything. It had made Angeal crack a smile and Sephiroth suppress a snicker. Most of the other ranks had just been confused. It had gotten a half hearted response from her. But it was doing wonders for her mood. She really shouldn't have doubted him.

The seeds hadn't lasted long in their desire to not grow away from their native soil, having germinated and flourished happily under their combined care.

"The Planet...thinks that all Genesis wanted to do was make sure you couldn't get involved in the fighting. To put you out of the way, somewhere safe." Aeris said softly, kneeling beside her. "If he cared about you even slightly less, I don't think he'd have stopped himself from attacking Sephiroth, even with you being in the line of fire." Rill shook herself.

"Enough about speculation." She said firmly. "We have a potential epidemic to neutralize before it begins. It came close to killing me by attacking my magical core, and other people won't have the same benefit I do in that area. We need to find something to drive the Calamity out."

Aeris's face went thoughtful and serious.

"I did get something about a way the Planet once purified and healed our wounded ancestors during their first few battles. But the only impression I got was of rain and healing. As if someone had made a cloud out of mega-elixers and then had it rain down on the people. It didn't seem that difficult to produce, but you had to get the right intent behind it."

"How was it made?" Rill asked. Aeris's hand drifted up to her braid and the inconspicuous white crystal that rested there.

"The spell is one of the original core of this... If we can find it and cast it, Rill, I'd bet that we could cure Genesis. Push the Calamity out entirely without taking any part of him with it." He'd be purified. He wouldn't have to keep himself under Hollander's power. He wouldn't have to be her enemy anymore. Something flickered to life in Rill's chest and she blushed. She firmly reminded herself that her heart had absolutely no good reason to be racing the way it was.

"Do you think we could experiment?" The brunette dusted off her hands before rising. "If there is anyway to track him down, and if there is some way we can avoid announcing to the world what we are...He deserves a confirmed theory instead of a flimsy guess." _Can we do this?_ Rill asked the Planet, tilting her head back to let a thin ray of sunlight touch her face. _Could we save him?_

There was silence for a moment before Rill felt as though great wings were lifting her upwards as though she might take flight at any moment. Hope, joy, light and potential suffused the air around them along with a slight beat of urgency and warning. This had to happen and it had to be finished soon. Both Cetra girls inhaled deeply of the support and encouragement they were being offered before coming to a decision without a word, or need to discuss.

Aeris rose as well, plucking the White Materia from her hair and offering it to her cousin on an upturned palm.

Rill took her cousin's hand, the smooth, not-cool, not quite solid crystal in her hand sending a shiver of familiarity through her entire body. The purest sensation of light filled her as Rill and Aeris began to harmonize their magic as if they were both singing the same note. Once a true union had been achieved, they directed their combined power towards the trove of distant, beautiful memories they held in their hands.

And hope sang back in response.

* * *

" _Wutai has surrendered."_ Sephiroth informed Rill over the phone even as she worked. Being the General allowed for some perks, such as being able to call long distance on the company's dime.

The words brought a mixed reaction from Rill. Relief that no more would die, and grief at how many had been lost on both sides.

"Hardly surprising." She replied dryly. "It says on one of the reports that you cut the fort in half."

" _I defeated a summoning of Ifrit, nothing more."_ Sephiroth said with a note of exasperation. " _Actually, Zack led the assault almost singlehandedly. And did a very good job of it too."_

"Always the tone of surprise, sir. There is a reason that we keep him around." Rill teased with the barest hint of a smile on her face. She was rewarded with a short chuckle from the man over the phone. She typed out a quick email to a restless squadron, informing them that if they decided life was a musical that was perfectly ok. But there were some mandatory singing lessons in their future, in addition to their regular duties, in order to spare the ears of their less cultured comrades.

She had all but taken over the department in the absence of so many commanding officers. Emma was doing the legwork at the moment, running all over the tower and trying to keep up with the pipe-bombs that were the laid-up army men. Rill hadn't stirred from her desk all morning, it was a rather strange sensation.

Sephiroth's voice was more somber as he spoke next.

" _Rill. There is something we found out here that we're not putting on the reports."_ Rill paused in her writing.

"Information that you don't trust to the communication channels?"

" _That I don't trust other people with."_ He corrected grimly. " _Hollander appears to have stolen the old blueprints for a device intended to assist in mass producing troops with a SOLDIER's abilities without the lengthy training period. It's a cloning device. It takes the DNA and genetic memory of an individual and grafts it onto another subject of the same species, which then grants them a portion of the original hosts abilities and strength. It was never put into active use because the people who had their abilities erased and replaced also took on the appearance of the one that they were copied from. There was less than a 50% survival rate. Their test subjects couldn't handle that kind of mass reorganization, or their immune systems rejected the genetic grafts. It was scrapped as being too wasteful to be used as a viable technique."_ Rill's breath caught as she sat straight. Not only at the blatant identification of just how little Shinra cared for the people that made up it's army, but at the realization.

"The troops who went with Genesis..." Even if half of the original number had survived, that would still mean that over a thousand men were dead.

" _It's what we figure. We've encountered dozens of them across Wutai and on the way back home as well. There's no way of telling who or what they were before they were cloned. The equipment we have can't identify them as anything but Genesis. They fight like he does for the most part, but they're not perfect copies. They can't use magic as proficiently, they're not nearly as tough and they're all but falling apart at the seams. None of the one's we've taken alive are capable of more than crude speech and have limited cognitive function that deteriorates rapidly into complete gibberish."_

Rill's hand tightened on the phone.

She and Aeris had been meditating often to try and hear more of their history from the White Materia. And deteriorating mental state sounded akin to what had transpired in Cetra who were infected by the Calamity in the early days of her invasion.

"Falling apart?" She asked, her voice somewhat shaken. "How so?" Sephiroth was silent for a moment, only the sound of the truck he was riding in breaking the stillness. When he did speak, his voice was very low and neutral. Controlling himself to the utmost degree.

" _Do really want me to tell you Rill?"_ It must have been bad for him to sound like this. Rill steeled herself.

"Better I'm forewarned than to just see the pictures." The images would be what hurt her the most.

" _They appear to age at an accelerated rate, almost all of the copies we've seen have had grey streaked hair to varying degrees. Observation has shown that their skin is paper and brittle, and they quickly lose muscle mass as though they were wasting away. The most extreme cases we've seen have had white hair, are weak and brittle, have greyish skin and develop an oozing rash. They die soon after they reach that point."_

That fit everything to a tee.

Prematurely greying hair and weakness.

 _The body is caught up in fighting off the invader. They show signs of aging in grey hair and declining strength as they suffer incredible amounts of microscopic internal damage that just cannot be fixed._

Greyish skin.

 _The life is literally being sucked from their body, their own font of Lifestream rapidly being drained dry in effort to clean out the Calamity from their system._

The rash.

 _The body is trying to force the Calamity out as swiftly as possible without letting it pass into the digestive system where it would be integrated more into the body. Sores develop on the skin all over the body that surround the area of primary infection to try and expel the toxins. Dead Lifestream and partially dead Calamity cells form a greyish black pus. Give the Calamity even the barest touch of untainted Lifestream and she will try and switch over to her next victim. Spreads through skin contact._

It all fit. There was no doubt that this was what was happening.

But how had Genesis gotten the Calamity in him in the first place? It can't have been recent, she'd have sensed it otherwise. But what had changed?

" _Rill?"_

"That sounds horrible." She said finally, having no other words fit to describe what she had heard and what she knew.

" _It looks even worse."_

"Well. Have you heard anything more about Angeal? I have the latest reports, but I thought you might have something more recent."

Angeal had vanished shortly after the last battle. When the 1st Class SOLDIER had been reported missing, there had been a brief panic. He was too skilled to have been wounded, so there was a lot of scuttlebutt around that said he had joined Genesis. People were looking for him, but not the same way they were seeking the first rogue SOLDIER commander.

" _No. There's no sign of him. I'm worried, Rill."_

No wonder. Both of his best friends had vanished within a few months of each other. Rill decided that it would be best to change the subject.

"How soon until all of you return?" The change to a more pleasant topic was most welcome since Sephiroth's voice sounded much more...alive when he answered.

" _Only a few more days. I don't know what you've put in Zack's head, but he has obsessively been gathering flower seeds whenever he sees something he doesn't recognize."_

"We'll run out of room in the garden if he keeps this up." She lamented fondly.

" _Oh it gets better. He's enlisted a few squads to help out. They're calling it the Floral Restoration Movement."_

"What does that have to do with anything?" She asked flatly, not understanding how Zack had gotten so many people on board with this, nor the connection the name had.

" _When I asked, I got something about 'restoring the smile to the SOLDIER's flower'."_ She felt herself blushing faintly and let out a sigh.

"Lux came up with the name, didn't he?"

" _You mean Sergeant Lukas? You call him Lux?"_

"Yes, him." Lux was a headcase even for a SOLDIER. He had recently befriended Zack, but didn't have the benefit of close contact with her. Thus, she didn't get the chance to kick his little crush to the curb. He was very obvious about admiring her, and said in the same breath that she was so far out of his league that he 'may as well try to catch a moonbeam in his hands'. It didn't stop him from coming up with terms, descriptions or other drivel that all referred to Rill. Such as calling her 'SOLDIER's flower'.

" _I didn't think you knew him that well."_

"I don't. But him being the president of my fanclub makes him the face I can direct my ire towards." She was honestly wondering how bad a fall out it would cause if she blocked him. He had started a fanclub for her! It was still pitifully small compared to following Sephiroth had, but the crazies were starting to come out of the woodwork and it was unnerving.

" _...You have a fanclub."_ Without being able to see his expression, and since he was too far away for the Planet to be of help, Rill had no idea how Sephiroth was actually taking the news.

"So it would seem." She admitted, running a hand through her hair before taking off her glasses and massaging the bridge of her nose. "My best guess is they were too intimidated by you and Zack to make themselves known with you looming over my shoulder. So with you gone, they became bold." Sephiroth was Sephiroth and had an imposing presence that made most of the lower ranks wary, respectful and awed but only when they weren't outright terrified. Most of them just feared him since he didn't interact with that many people as friends. And Zack was popular amongst the army due to the publicity from his crazy antics and unbelievable luck, both the good and the bad. He was also well known and vocally friendly with her, and had demonstrated he was a loyal guard dog. With her 'protection' gone, they had gotten a sudden increase of courage.

" _They haven't done anything to make you uncomfortable have they?"_

"I could do without the shrines. But beyond that, no." Sephiroth was silent for another moment.

" _Other than...that. Is there anything else worth reporting before I come back?"_ Rill smiled as she looked over the answer to her first email.

"I can make no promises as to how many cookies will be here when you come back. They're getting nibbled away and I haven't been able to replace them."

" _That's a no then. I'll see you in a few days, Rill."_ The Planet hummed happily as Rill heard fondness in his voice before he hung up. Being friends with one's boss was a far cry from simply being friendly and she had found that she rather liked this route.

It would be good to see him and Zack back again. She'd missed them.

 _I think Angeal has joined Genesis._ Aeris said suddenly in her mind.

 _Why would he do that?_ Rill thought instantly, mind examining the possibilities.

 _I don't know. She says that he and Genesis are the same...Maybe he has the same illness._ If that were the case...

 _If we don't want Sephiroth to fall apart entirely with having to fight and kill his friends, we have to heal them._ Rill said, heart fluttering with worry. Sephiroth had a support system outside of SOLDIER, but she still worried for him. Angeal and Genesis had been beside him throughout his entire childhood and rise through the SOLDIER program. Without them, he would be unstable. With them as his enemies, he might just break altogether.

 _He's not that fragile, Rill. He has Mom and I here and he has you and Zack at work. He'll be ok._

 _You should know by now that just saying that won't make me stop being concerned._

 _It doesn't work on Mom either._ Aeris admitted blandly. _But someone has to say it otherwise we'll never sort out the 'I told you so' rights._

* * *

"You're joking." Rill said flatly as she looked at Rufus. He had apparently been dubbed her 'handler' in the absence of Lazard and Sephiroth, something she could...be happier about.

"Dead serious." He said blandly. "They want you over in Wutai and working your magic touch."

"You're sending me into a former combat zone to try and talk people around into not hating the corporation that has been waging war on them for the last eight years."

"If anyone can do it, it's you."

"I'm not an ambassador and you know it." She said flatly, eyes glinting like dark ice over her glasses. "You probably objected to the idea when it was proposed, so stop pretending you're actually trying to talk me into it." Rufus's cheerful, completely false smile faded into a more normal looking smirk.

"Scarlet's idea."

"Poorly veiled attempt at getting me killed?"

"Not even veiled." Rill shook her head. Scarlet was feeling bold since Sephiroth wasn't around but none of that boldness extended towards her directly. She had a feeling that this wasn't the first attempt the head of Weapon's Development had made, nor was it the first time Rufus had turned her in circles out of boredom.

"Was there some reason you wanted to see me, sir? Or were you just bored?"

"Oh I'm almost always bored, but I did have a good excuse to speak with you." Rufus rose from his desk. "I'm going to be taking a tour of all Shinra's property around the world come December-"

"Let me stop you right there with a flat no."

"You're automatically assuming that I was going to ask you?"

"Was I wrong?"

"Miss Nerilka, why do you object to our playdates? They're so much fun."


	16. Back to normal?

**A/N: Sorry for missing last week. I was traveling and completely forgot to take care of this! Also, I'm posting a small set of vignettes from Genesis' point of view of the events leading up his desertion. It's partly to make up for being late and partly something I've been considering for a while anyway.**

* * *

Rill entered her office quietly that morning. It had been a long weekend with most of the army having recovered enough from the final battle to go out and celebrate. Zack and Reno had hosted a party throughout most of Sector 3. It was early November, almost two weeks after Sephiroth had returned from Wutai. The hype over the war being over was still going strong and Sephiroth was apparently going to be decorated again for his involvement. He was rather...nonplussed with this scenario. She had just come back from quietly shutting down a moonshine still in one of the mid floor bathrooms. There was a conspicuous lack of sound from her boss's office so she didn't sit down, and instead peeked through the adjoining door to see what he was doing.

His head was resting on his desk, and she heard him muttering to himself, flaring her Tremor-sense materia, she giggled to hear that he was reciting the periodic table, backwards, and the phone was off the hook, lying where he had discarded it.

"What is it?" She asked lightly, mentally running a list of cues and signs. No alarms had been triggered, so it was either not above the Plate or not large enough a scale to warrant an immediate response...

He didn't answer, but just put the phone back to his ear.

"Zackery...put pants on. I. Mean. It." Rill's brows rose almost to her hairline. She had been wondering what the pair were doing slumming it around all day. Then her phone, which she had decided to silence for the day, just for fun, finally vibrated, indicating she had a voicemail.

She checked it and listened and only months of practice let her keep a straight face as she listened to Reno's message.

" _I'm out of pants...but I'm improvising! I'll buy you a new doormat, I swear!"_ He sounded out of breath and slightly panicked, but not in any imminent danger. Rill let out a short sigh, deleting the voicemail and returning to her desk as she checked where Zack was, then turning and heading back outside.

* * *

 _From: Rufus_

 _Memo: Find out how Reno got past the defensive grid._

 _From: Nerilka_

 _In short, sir: Not my circus, not my monkeys._

"Sephiroth, you wouldn't happen to know a way to block an executive's PHS number, would you?" This made the silver haired man whip around, eyes wide and shoulders tense.

"What?"

"The vice president doesn't seem to understand that if his office is infested with pests: It isn't my problem." The general was in a bewilderingly good mood after this was clarified. As if a great weight had been lifted from his mind. This was not a bad thing, Sephiroth being in a good mood was much better than him snarling at everyone over the phone. What wasn't pleasant was that Rill would now have to put up with Aeris's dementedly cheerful humming in the back of her mind.

* * *

"My trousers are full of chowder. _"_ Rill smiled pleasantly at Reno's statement.

"And how did this come to be?"

"Because I am an idiot? _"_

"No, because you like chasing thrills."

Rill felt absolutely no guilt as she slapped the man before her, channeling her Heal Materia into purging the drugs and alcohol from her current problem's body.

"Whaaaaat the hell!" Reno cursed, clutching his aching head as he suffered the effects from a drug crash and a hangover all at once. "What was that for, yo?"

"Cast your mind back. Think really hard." She said flatly. Reno thought...remembered...then paled.

"Ah...Sorry 'bout that..." There would have been soooo many better ways for her to find out that he thought she was attractive. _As in, never!_ Before the whole Genesis thing, he would have mentioned it in passing and left it alone after that. But the Genesis thing had happened and it was fairly obvious that for all that she said there had never been a relationship, she was very clearly not over it.

Reno just didn't want to screw up what he had with his friend. She was one of the few slum natives in the company that he was friendly with!

"Note to self: You're a sad drunk." He relaxed at this, she didn't seem to be upset, in fact she was smiling. "Now, you get to explain to Tseng why you put yourself down as unable to work due to being: 'undead'."

* * *

 _You really think I'd have learned by now._ Rill said to herself as she headed towards the blaring sirens through the dark evening streets. _Stupid Turk top security blurring the tracker on Zack's phone. Rookie mistake._ She would be having some words with the tech department to get that sorted out. They still owed her for talking several space shy, light sensitive SOLDIER out of their air ducts.

Her PHS vibrated and she flicked it open without bothering to glance at the name. It wasn't any of the warning ringtones, so it wasn't Reno, Zack, Sephiroth, Emma or Rufus

"Thomas."

" _Rill."_ Tseng's voice came through the line. " _I just received a message from SOLDIER Fair."_

*BEEP* "Received at 8:23 PM." *BEEP* " _Hey, uh, this is Zack, and uh, if you haven't already seen the evening news, you might want to turn it on now, and also, that was totally not me holding the goat's leash in the background. I plead innocent by act of Reno. Please don't tell Rill!_ "

Rill almost wanted to smile at the raw panic and guilt in Zack's tone.

" _Might I inquire as to what occurred to make SOLDIER Fair so insistent on not troubling you?" And is there anyway I can copy it?_ The young secretary chuckled.

"I told him that any further instances like this would be documented photographically and sent to his mother. I'll be there in a few minutes to start cleaning up and get the farm shipped back to the countryside. If you send someone by for Reno, I'll have him ready for you."

* * *

"No I don't believe that you have appendicitis... Because you've already had it removed...No, it does not grow back!...I think. Rill?"

"Not without a sufficiently sustained and empowered casting of Regen and only for a maximum of two weeks post removal. You still have to come into work Zack. It's your own fault for trying to outdrink Cloud again." This concluded the conversation since Sephiroth hung up on the younger man before he could start crying.

"How much alcohol did he drink if he's still not sober this morning?" He wondered, running a hand through his hair.

"This is his bar tab." Rill said dryly, proffering the sheet of paper. Sephiroth steeled himself before taking it and beginning to read. His mouth hung open in stark amazement as he went through the stack.

"Both of them drank this? How is the kid not dead yet? He doesn't have any Mako enhancement, does he?"

"Cloud is perfectly ordinary, sir." Rill affirmed with a fond smile. "Apparently his hometown is extremely isolated, meaning they lack proper medicine. The only painkiller available was the local spirits and he was somewhat bullied in his youth."

"Meaning he got plenty of practice..." Sephiroth muttered, pulling a hand down his face and losing the battle against his smile. "Still, I've never heard of any one managing to outdrink a SOLDIER's metabolism."

"Perhaps there is something else that Cloud experienced that contributes to this skill of his. I will say, it's won him quite a bit of money in certain circles. But if you're that curious, you can ask him yourself, Sephiroth. He's a fifteen year old kid, he doesn't bite."

* * *

"I don't especially care who is responsible, or how it happened." Rill spoke calmly into her phone. "Find SOLDIER Fair. Officer Sinclair managed to separate him from his phone with the tracking device and they must be found, ASAP. Have I made myself clear?" Sephiroth leaned forward in his chair, brows slightly raised as he listened to Rill speak. She was in full on Ice Queen mode, voice cold, precise and delicate as a frost flower. _Ok, what is going on...?_ He rarely heard Rill use that voice in the office nowadays. And when she did, he was torn between standing at attention, and cracking a rib suppressing his laughter when he set that mental image against a laughing, somewhat soaked girl with an old water hose and a big grin that promised mischief.

"What are you thinking?" he asked as Rill hung up.

"I'm thinking that this has the potential to be a massive headache and blackmail material for life."

A short time later, a hogtied and gagged Reno was deposited outside Rill's office door.

Sephiroth wasn't exactly surprised that this was how Reno had needed to be transported back, but...

"Who did you send after him?" He asked Rill. "Because the bow and card seem...somewhat unnecessary." She merely looked thoughtful as she tapped her lower lip, head tilted in contemplation as she looked at the card.

"I didn't send anyone. Don't give me that look Reno, I didn't." Rill's stiffened slightly and closed the card abruptly. "Is it right to be disturbed that there are people in my fanclub that know how to tie knots like that?"

* * *

This was war. No two ways about it.

The carnage was plastered across the city, updates were flying over the media.

The extremists of the Silver Elite had gone to war against Rill's fanclub, the Clerical Guard. Fights were breaking out between furious women and lovestruck men.

 _However useful you are Rill, you do bring about your own set of problems._ Rufus thought with a scowl. He shouldn't be surprised that Nerilka garnered this much attention. She ruled the SOLDIER department like a matriarch. Always willing to listen, sympathize and hear out your complaint, but also perfectly willing to give you a verbal smack upside the head if she felt you were being an idiot. It was a refreshingly blunt, simple and effective method of dealing with the common masses of the company.

And the fact that she was a pretty young girl behind the intimidating glasses instead of a grey haired, wrinkled grandmother turned the respect into infatuation on some parts.

The 'Floral Restoration Movement' had renamed itself the 'Clerical Guard' at the first sight of trouble from General Sephiroth's more ardently admiring fans. There had been scuttlebutt floating around that he was in a relationship with her ever since she started working there. But Rufus was uncertain what had sparked this not so cold war between the two factions.

He had been searching the web to try and find the catalyst that had begun this madness, and he was fairly certain he'd found it. Rufus mused that he needed to find some way of keeping Rill out of this. _Her reaction would certainly be interesting though..._ Rufus contemplated it for a moment, perusing a hand drawn picture of Sephiroth and Rill, sitting on a bench by a fountain. The General looked composed and almost bored. But his intent and purpose in being there was conveyed beautifully in the arm that was placed around Rill as she fed some pigeons on the ground in front of them with a small smile. Her face looked softer and more innocent than it should be. Rill wasn't childlike, and while she was innocent, she was definitely not ignorant. But other than that... _Situationally, it could almost happen._ Rufus admitted. It was one of the better renditions he had seen.

Half of the Silver Elite were rising up in abject fury that there was a potential, reasonable, vastly superior female who had secured their idol's attention. However fictitious that attention might be. _Sephiroth may as well be asexual and Rill certainly isn't going to start anything after Genesis._

The other half was giving the 'ship' their full, mad, over the top, adoring support. _Why are so many people so...so..._

"I told you letting him see that movie was a bad idea." Rill said with no small amount of satisfaction as Director Lazard struggled to try and track down Zack. Rill had the weekend off and intended to treat it as such. She was not going to be touching on anything that Zack or Reno did until she came back to work on Monday.

" _He needed something to keep him busy after his shots and you weren't here!"_

"Still shows a remarkable lack of foresight on your part, director." She said into her PHS, very pleasantly.

" _He's trying to swallow it!"_

"You're the one who left his mouth untied."

" _Rill, this is one of the two of this kind of materia in the entire world! Even with as useful an asset as he is, Zack's life isn't worth that much!" A...very fair point actually._ Rill sighed.

"Fine, put him on." A short time later and with some scuffling, Rill heard a muffled voice, like someone trying to speak through a gag very rapidly.

"Mmhm...I see what you were trying so let me tell you: Zack, swallowing a Fullcure materia will not turn you into Wolverine. Stop trying, and let the nice men help you go to sleep, you'll feel a lot better when you wake up...yes, I'm sure."

Rill was processing a restraining order against Zack. Since it would keep him from effectively doing his job, it was her job to try and find some way around it.

 _Ok, I have the kids down here. Read me the name of the one filing the order and their reason._ Aeris said in a businesslike tone. It was just...common slum knowledge that what Aeris said, Rill knew and supported.

 _A man by the name of Gerald Hansen, filing on accounts of unwanted sexual advances towards his daughter from Zack._ Rill felt a slight hiccup from her cousin and smile inwardly. _Not a word of that is true, of course, but the last order didn't go through when the judge laughed him out when he claimed that Zack had behaved aggressively towards his family for no cause._

 _Oh...I knew that!_

 _Sure you did, cuz. Sure you did._

This order had to be refuted. Otherwise it would ban Zack from even entering the same sector that they lived in. And since it chiefly involved Zack, it had been sent to her to do. Rill typed a message of complaint to Rufus about getting involved in the bureaucracy of legal paperwork which wasn't under her jurisdiction.

A few hours after Rill passed this on to Aeris and the slum children, she got her answer.

Young miss Hansen was a fervent admirer of Zack Fair, a bright prospective 1st Class SOLDIER, and war hero. Her father didn't have the heart, or guts, to outright ban his daughter the desire of her heart. So he was attempting to keep Zack from coming near while he tried to subtly bring his daughter to her senses.

 _Mr Hansen, that your paternal instincts are to be commended. However, we cannot in good conscience ban one of our best from protecting your home. Thus, you shall have to find some other means of discouraging your daughter's affections. Zackery likely has no idea that he is the recipient of them all all._

 _Wishing you a pleasant day,_

 _Nerilka Thomas_

"Rill, I get that you're tired of dealing with this guy, but isn't there some...more polite way of handling his rejection?"

"Considering politely declining his restraining order has made him pour thousands of gil into trying to dig up some hidden scandal, bribe a witness, or stage a fight where Zack is the aggressor, I feel this is completely justified." Sephiroth felt his mouth curve up into a grim, sardonic smirk.

"You get vicious when you're tired."

 _It had to be here._ Rill's mouth felt dry and bitterly acidic as she gazed over the familiar scenery.

She hadn't been to Loveless Avenue since...

 _Don't think it._ She told herself. _Just go and get Zack out of the poetry slam, and leave. Don't think it._ Because as soon as she thought of the last time she had been here, she would think of other things, other people and the guilt would come back to try and cut her feet out from under here.

 _You could have prevented this from happening._ She shook her head, trying to beat the voice back into the corner where she had almost been able to ignore it. Her eyes burned, but she had long since forced her tears to stay sealed away.

 _You could have saved Genesis from growing so desperate as to desert._

It had always been there. In her mind, hovering like a poisonous shadow that stalked her day in and day out.

 _Focus. Get Zack. Get him to babble about something, anything, just drown it out..._

 _Rill..._ Aeris' voice was impossibly soft, grieving for her pain even as she yearned to try and take it away from her. The dark haired girl shook herself briskly.

 _I'm alright Aeris._

 _You think you are..._

Rill tried to center herself, draw the persona of Nerilka the icy, efficient secretary out of storage. Put on a mask and pretend that was her for awhile. Nerilka hadn't fallen for Genesis, not even a little bit. She didn't feel enough to be torn up over what had happened. There had never been any potential for anything between them. Not even friendship.

 _If you'd said yes, and given him something to come back to-_

The mask wouldn't stay in place. It kept on slipping and letting the gnawing pain sink it's ravenous teeth into her spirit. There wasn't any peace in her life, just a mockery of the usual patterns. Genesis had done more than put cracks into her carefully guarded heart, he had stolen her sense of security. Betrayed her trust, harmed what she held dear, then run and refused to face the consequences.

Every whisper she heard from the Planet about potential danger always made her heart leap into her mouth until she recognized whoever was approaching.

Rill paused in her steps, angrily swiping what she refused to acknowledge as a tear away. It was just the wind making her eyes water.

 _You could have kept him here and been happy._

Rill was late for the first time in trying to pick up Zack from his current predicament. She had taken several minutes to compose and ground herself before daring to try and interact with people normally. She was very glad that Zack was currently blinded by a Darkness spell so he didn't see her overbright, slightly reddened eyes. Thankfully, the cool winter air made it so no one would be able to see the evidence of her emotional outburst.

Christmas in the Gainsborough household had rarely been as festive as it was now. Elmyra always did her best for her family, but she couldn't afford very extravagant decorations or gifts. For all his enthusiasm to experience events like this in a private setting, Rill thought Sephiroth was showing a remarkable amount of restraint. He'd only uprooted an entire tree for their Christmas the last time he was at Icicle Inn. Aeris and Elmyra were currently tending to it with the rest of Sector 5's slums. Some clever applications of magic, and Aeris had reawakened the root systems of the large tree to enough of an extent that it would last from year to year. Everyone was very much thrilled at the prospect of having a live Christmas tree instead of crumbling, old cast offs from above the Plate.

Rill wondered how much a picture of Sephiroth in a Santa hat would go for on the Internet, let alone one of him looking as relaxed as he usually was in this cozy house in the slums. But at the moment, he was looking haggard as he massaged the bridge of his nose.

"Ok, so you don't know where you are, or how you got there, but you're dressed as Santa and children are crying?" Rill laughed, unable to hold it in as she listened to Zack's panicked tone from over the phone. "Yes, Rill is laughing at you."

" _That's not funny Rill! A SOLDIER isn't supposed to make kids cry!"_ Zack's voice squawked through the speaker as Sephiroth held it up. Rill hopped onto the couch Sephiroth was reclining on and spoke into the phone with a fond smile.

"Zack, have you considered that the children are crying because Santa tackled an ice monster through a wall and they're worried about him?" Judging by the silence on the other end, he hadn't.

" _Is that it?...I can't go back there, my beard's messed up the gifts have been smashed and my suit's charred!"_

"Use a low-powered application of your Ice materia to generate a few large snowbanks and a snow fall and douse yourself in it." Rill instructed. "It'll cover up the damage to the suit, and give the kids something to play with." Snow was an unheard of event in Midgar, the reactors altering the atmosphere in such a way so all precipitation fell as rain or hail with no inbetween stage.

" _That...that'll work!"_ Zack said gleefully, a more familiar note of energetic glee entering his voice. " _Thanks a bunch, Rill! You're the best!"_

"I'm starting to think I'm superficial." Sephiroth remarked, closing his phone. "Almost every time he calls me, he only does so because he can't get ahold of you." Rill shrugged, offering him a plate of Christmas cookies.

"Your ways of solving problems involved getting very stab happy and scary."

"Rill, he inhaled three materia on separate occasions because he held them in his teeth while changing slots. He managed to flush his application for advancement to 2nd Class down the toilet, then proceeded to dive into the sewage to get it back. When reporting for that advancement, he still hadn't changed out of the same clothes! He spoke in nothing but rhymes for three days!" Rill calmly shut off the tirade by shoving a gingerbread cookie into his mouth. By the time he had chewed and swallowed.

"Better?"

"Much..." Sephiroth said with a sigh, still clearly not ready to let the issue go.

* * *

Rill awoke expecting the usual, modest decorations in the house and the gifts that she and her family made for one another. They had never been able to do much, but they always pulled out something. Aeris had managed to grow some poinsettias that gave the flower bedecked house a festive air. Elmyra had invited (see also: insisted) that Sephiroth join them for the holiday as well but he had refused to crash in the house and gone back to his apartment above the Plate. She expected him within a few hours. Around noon or so. Aeris and Elmyra were still asleep but there came a scuffle at the door that she couldn't ignore.

Rill came down the stairs and was greeted by a grinning Sephiroth in his Santa hat, an image she still couldn't quite get over, hauling several large bags of...something through the door.

"What are you doing...?" She hissed, coming and holding the door open so he could get everything inside. He looked down at her, reminding her eerily of Zack.

"I've never had a family to give presents to before." Rill's eyes were a little wet, but she managed to hide that from Sephiroth as she helped him arrange the presents around the room in anticipation for when the other two would wake up.

 _You are such a dork..._ Rill thought, face hurting from how wide her smile was. _Who knew...?_

"Ah, before Auntie and Aeris get up." She looked at Sephiroth who was offering her a small parcel about as big as her hand. Her name was printed on the paper in his familiar hand. Rill was about to take it...when she thought better of it and scampered upstairs.

"Don't move!" She called behind her in an undertone. She was back in a flash with her own present for him. "Family tradition says you exchange gifts instead of just getting them." She explained, offering her own present to the general.

He wouldn't have been recognizable as the terror of Shinra's army, the black leather and iconic sword were absent here, leaving only a silver haired man-child in a red fuzzy hat with a white tassel.

They swapped and Rill was taken aback at how light her present was... She tore open the wrapping, hearing Sephiroth do the same. But she was struck speechless at the beautiful bangle that she unearthed from some tissue paper.

A long, coiled piece of metal work, silver-white, smooth, strong, with six materia slots disguised as cherry blossom shaped charms that could be slid up or down the bangle's length. It was small and neat enough for day to day wear, but with six slots, it was both beautiful and a threat to the practiced eye.

"Sephiroth..." The amount this must has cost to get six slots fitted into something she could wear openly without it being obvious that she was armed...

"Since you're obviously very good with magic, I wanted you to have a little more variety than just a three-slot the next time you get into trouble." His tone was fondly exasperated. He seemed to have grown...somewhat accustomed to the idea that she might need to get involved personally.

"Where did you get this?" Rill looked up at him, amazement in her eyes.

There were a handful of metals that allowed magical conductivity and the strange, dimensional warping that let materia, ranging from the size of a large marble to a person's clenched fist, slide into seemingly much smaller space. But the materials were mostly found in Wutai, another reason Shinra had wanted access to country's resources so badly. And all of them were hellishly expensive and fickle to work with! To get this kind of craftsmanship out of the materials must have taken a master's touch!

"I had it made while I was away for the final battle." He corrected her assumption that he had bought it, seemingly very pleased with her reaction. "By an old smith I met on one of my first deployments in Wutai. He didn't care one way or the other if I was with Shinra or not, or who I had fought. He was interested in Masamune and in exchange for letting him study it for a few days, he made this for me." He took the bangle from her stunned grasp and wound it around her wrist, snapping the end into place to form what appeared to be a solid whole.

Rill stared down at the accessory on her wrist, aware that her face was burning as the Planet sang softly in the back of her mind. She felt peace. Complete and secure for the first time since October. The cool metal felt like a promise and protection instead of a potential weapon. It made her feel safe.

She hugged Sephiroth. She didn't have any words to say what she felt, but this was as close as she could get. He returned the embrace, but with that same care that he always had around her. That gentle caution that spoke volumes in how much he valued her, but the strength that said she wasn't weak.

"Merry Christmas, Rill." The moment was ruined for Rill by a soft coo from the stairs and she turned, face flushing darkly as Elmyra finished taking a picture of the two of them.

 _He saw them._ Rill realized, throwing a look up at Sephiroth who was clearly fighting back laughter. _He saw them and he didn't do anything about it, the jerk!_ But she couldn't really make herself be angry. She was still too happy for that.


	17. Oh, Goddess, there's two of them?

**A/N: The regular update, if a few days early. Please enjoy, and sorry again about missing last week!**

* * *

Barring the occasional vacation, Rill never thought that she'd ever visit another continent. Yet here she was, in Wutai overseeing the final negotiations for land contracting. She had been here for almost a month. It was February now and she had been sent here shortly after the new year. She had been well received considering who had sent her and that she had a Turk shadowing her. She was rather grateful that it was Reno who had come along with her. For all his stupid antics back at HQ lately, he was taking her safety very seriously. He'd already foiled three different attempts on her from unquiet rebels trying to make a statement. She was relatively certain the last one had meant to rape her, judging by the way Reno's eyes were burning when he questioned the captured man. She only understood a little Wutian after all. And since Reno deliberately changed the subject when she asked what had happen to her would be assailant, Rill could deduce that either Reno had eliminated him, or the Wutian government had come down hard on him without mercy.

She was very, very grateful the red haired Turk hadn't put down specifics into the report he sent back to HQ about the incident. She knew that this nation wouldn't survive the wrath of Shinra's army if they decided to continue the bloodshed. But she had a different headache to deal with right now.

 _All that effort, and yet they're not going to put in a reactor. They're going to convert the entire country into a tourist attraction._ Lord Godo had managed to negotiate around for another plot of land that wasn't in their nation's holy ground. _Seriously, couldn't you have talked this out eight years ago without the fighting?_

Rill's hand flicked out and she poked Zack in the ribs, making him sit upright again. He whined under his breath.

"C'mon Rill, this outfit itches!"

"It was very nice of them to give us local clothing as a gesture of goodwill, now behave yourself and hold still." The formal yukata made the SOLDIER looked very different. His hair was as unruly as ever, but he wasn't dealing well with seiza. Rill's legs were going to be extremely cramped when the proceedings finally ended. At least her kimono was pretty. She had been informed that it was the traditional style for an unmarried woman to wear and she had sensed no ill will as she was assisted in putting it on. It was lovely: white with pale blue trim, with hundreds of tiny embroidered blue flowers against the white background of her sleeves and top. She had had her hair brushed out of her usual bun and with a few floral pins placed in it. The biggest change from her usual appearance was that her glasses had been confiscated, leaving her feeling the tiniest bit vulnerable. Even if it had been surprisingly gratifying to have to watch certain people scrape their jaws off the floor upon first seeing her. Specifically Rufus. For all that he was a manipulative, scheming, coup planning... Actually, especially because he was like that. It felt good to utterly blindside him with something like this. It was clear that from the looks she was getting even now that they had not been expecting the now famous SOLDIER secretary to be dressed in native clothing and actually looking good.

Sephiroth had not been pleased with the thought of losing his secretary for a month. But since there still needed to be a SOLDIER presence in Wutai without making the natives feel threatened, it had been decided that RIll was the best person for the job. He had called her at least twice a week to check up on her, once for himself, once for Aeris and Elmyra, who couldn't afford the call.

Rill glanced aside at her second charge, this one far more unofficial than Zack.

Princess Yuffie of Wutai was about ten years old and convinced that she would save her country by single handedly kicking out everyone that was part of Shinra. Except for Rill. She decided in her infinite mercy that Rill could stay. In her brief weeks of being here, Rill had gotten tremendous respect from the local ninja in her ability to always detect exactly where Yuffie was and what she was doing without seeing her. She wasn't sure if any of them had guessed that she was somehow using magic. But when the fighters were asked to remove their materia and bangles, she was never approached, so either they trusted her to not attack them, or they were missing the fact that she was using any of the magic giving crystals. She always had Tremor-sense and Infrared on her now that she had room to have them as well as her healing materia. She was becoming more and more proficient at using her creations, especially in tracking the location of a certain young princess.

This was all for show right now. A live broadcast from President Shinra and Lord Godo about the conclusion and public signing of the peace treaty.

Rill sighed and subtly poked Zack, correcting his posture yet again.

"It's almost over Zack, be patient."

"But this hurts!" He hissed back.

"You're a wuss." Yuffie said in what would have been a very quiet whisper for an actor. Rill cast her a quick look and raised her brows slightly, making the younger girl fall silent. Lord Godo had almost choked upon seeing Rill in action on Yuffie, seeming to be torn between relieved joy, and horror. Yuffie's primary guardian, a kunoichi named Sanko, stated that she was wondering if "Lady Nerilka" was either an angel in disguise who had driven out the evil spirits in the princess, or a devil herself and using mind control. She also said that either way, she was very happy with the results!

It seemed to take an eternity before she was able to get up, her legs prickling painfully from maintaining position for so long. Rill thought she might never be able to slouch again! And she'd thought her aunt demanded good posture...

A small, alive weight latched onto her hand as soon as she was upright and Rill looked down at a pleading pair of eyes.

"Can we go play ninja?" Yuffie asked, sounding very much like a child now. As surely as men had died in the course of the war, Yuffie had been robbed of her childhood. She had barely been able to toddle around when the war began. Rill was...more lax in her discipline towards Yuffie than she was towards Zack and she told Godo this.

" _If you want the peace to be real, you'll have to do something about the younger generation who have grown up believing Shinra is the incarnation of all the demons of the underworld. The children who have watched their fathers and relatives go to war and never come back, or come back riddled with Shinra bullets. Yuffie is the concentrated form of that resentment right now because she is your daughter and she saw and heard everything. Even things you didn't mean for her to know. I speak from experience when I saw that children can go unnoticed very easily."_ Rill knew that it was still likely that Yuffie would rebel in some fashion. If only to find her place in a world that had taught her from infanthood on that nothing was what she thought it was.

Thus, Rill had devoted some time to playing with Yuffie willingly, instead of just getting absorbed into her antics.

"Riiiiill!" Free from the awkward position and recovering the use of his legs much faster than Rill, Zack came barreling at her and seized her in a tight bear hug, easily lifting her off the ground and spinning her around in pure excitement. "You look so pretty! I missed you so much! It's a freaking nightmare back home without you there! I thought Sephiroth was gonna eviscerate me for the fried chicken thing without you there to make him be nice! And Tseng chased me up a flagpole last week!" He was all but shouting this in his enthusiasm and Rill saw many people from the company looking on with chuckles and laughter. She wasn't sure what Rufus thought of this since she couldn't see his expression that well. But a facepalm was fairly easy to translate.

"Thank you for the compliment. I missed you too. I'm sorry to hear that. He was probably exaggerating and did you deserve it?" Rill went through his highspeed dialogue piece by piece in a much more moderate tone. She was trying to maintain her professional composure without the visual aids she normally had. Keeping her expression bland was difficult when she was being shaken like a rag doll, but not impossible.

"All I did was borrow a motorcycle!"

"Without asking or having a license?" Zack paused.

"Oh...that's probably why he was so mad." Yuffie was looking on with a gaping mouth, clearly uncertain of what she was seeing. And when Yuffie was uncertain...?

"Put Rill down you big meanie!" She yelled, kicking him in the shin. Zack didn't even blink at the blows, just looked down at the small girl with a glimmer of recognition.

"Oh, you're that kid. Yuffie, Wutai's greatest warrior, right?" In a flash, Yuffie's anger evaporated into barely restrained glee and she puffed out her chest with great pride.

"That's right, so you'd better put her down before I really get mad!" _You are adorable...both of you are._ Rill thought, amused at the ease with which Zack had turned Yuffie's hostile indignation to happiness.

"A sentiment I share to some degree." Sephiroth's voice came from behind them, very dry as he looked at Zack with raised brows. "I thought we worked out that you wouldn't be tackling Rill like this?"

"Oh come on, Sephiroth, you're saying you didn't miss her?" He shot back with a scowl as he set the young woman he held back on her feet but keeping an arm slung across her shoulders.

"Indeed I did. But I didn't make a fool of myself in from of the world either." Rill rolled her eyes, motioning her hand towards Yuffie.

"Yuffie, these are some friends of mine. Zack, whom you've apparently met before, and Sephiroth, my immediate superior. Sir, Zack, this is Princess Yuffie." Zack whistled, the first to react. He released Rill and swept into a deep bow.

"I humbly beg forgiveness for not greeting you appropriately when we first met, my lady." The tiny girl scowled, though it was obvious that she didn't really mind being addressed like this.

"You didn't cause you didn't recognize me, cause I'm the best ninja in Wutai!" She punctuated this by sticking her tongue out at Zack. Then she turned her gaze towards Sephiroth. "Are you actually a guy? I've only seen girls with hair that long." Rill bit her lip to keep from chuckling and was successful. Zack's snort still made it out audibly.

Sephiroth raised an angled brow.

"I am male, Princess. I'm sure of it."

"Well if you're Rill's boss that means I gotta beat you up if Rill's gonna stay!" Sephiroth caught Yuffie's clumsy forward lunge with one hand, holding her out at arm's reach with one hand on her head.

"I'd recommend asking Rill about that before me." He told her, still regarding her with quizzical interest as she swung her fists in a vain attempt to reach him with her shorter arms.

"She said-you had to say-yes!" She grunted, still struggling.

"Well I say no." he told her, the corner of his mouth curving upwards in a smile. "I'm a little too fond of her to let her move halfway around the world, even at the command of a princess."

Rill got quite a bit of amusement over watching Yuffie interact with Zack and Sephiroth. Zack would have been fine even without her intervention, he was nothing but a big kid himself. But she was glad to see that Sephiroth had gotten enough...practice in to not needlessly send the girl into a tantrum when he told her in no uncertain terms that he wasn't going to allow Rill to leave.

This led Yuffie to declaring...

"You gotta be the bad guy that kidnaps the girl then!" She declared. "So someone's gotta come and save her." Yuffie reached out and latched herself onto Rill's waist. "You can't have her!" _Deja vu._ Rill thought throwing an amused look at a suddenly bewildered Zack.

"H-Hey there squirt. We kinda need Rill back in Midgar-" Yuffie only response was to blow a loud raspberry at him and start to tow her prize away. Rill took careful steps, but she spoke aloud with a slight touch of mischief.

"There are two champions vying for me, I cannot possibly decide between them." Yuffie paused, intrigued at this new game. Rill continued. "The fierce Princess Yuffie on the one hand-"

"And the daring Spiked Fairy on the other." Reno added, shoving Zack forward with a vulpine grin. Sephiroth just looked bemused, though to almost anyone else, he would seem bored.

"Gotta be a contest then to decide which one of you gets Rill, yo!" Yuffie considered this.

"So...I gotta duel the wuss?" She asked, pointing at Zack who had enough pride to look offended at being term a wuss by a girl who didn't look like she weighed more than 80 lbs soaking wet. "And if I win, Rill stays in Wutai?"

"Then I spend my last day with you." Rill corrected, not wanting to allow room for this prank on Zack to explode too far out of control. Fortunately, this seemed to satisfy the tiny ninja.

"OK! You gotta catch me then!" She let go of Rill, ran at Zack, yanked two of his materia from his pocket and was already making tracks towards the outskirts of town before Zack could respond.

"Crap!" Zack yelped, patting his pocket. "Those are almost leveled, you little brat!" He took off after her and once they were far enough away, Rill let herself fistbump Reno.

"Very nicely done."

"Couldn't let a chance like that get away, yo." He snickered. "It's just too perfect. Who do you think'll crash first?"

"Yuffie. She's quick now because she's got pent up energy from this circus. Unless she eats something soon, she'll hit a wall. Hopefully not literally."

"What are you talking about?" Sephiroth asked, coming up beside them both with a now visible bemused frown.

"We have just found the one person in the world who could match Zack's energy levels for any period of time." Rill explained, chuckling. "Also known as: Payback for a year and then some of running me ragged."

"I see..." Sephiroth watched the duo, Zack shaking a tree vigorously as Yuffie clung to its swaying branches and yelled abuse down at him. "...Pity we don't have some snacks, or a video camera. I can think of many people who would find this therapeutic." Yuffie sprang to another tree then back to the ground with Zack close behind her.

"And that also takes care of the worst of the social fallout that he might cause." Rill said with a pleased smile. "Yuffie is counted as more of a... force of nature than a child, so the blunders that he will undoubtedly commit have just gotten an irrefutable, local, well used and widely applicable explanation."

"You are a wonder and a marvel." Reno sauntered off, still smirking in a very satisfied way and left the pair of them there watching with great relish.

Sephiroth spoke again, almost in afterthought,

"By the by, Zack is right." She glanced up at him, confused.

"What about?" Sephiroth just smiled, genuinely, soft and something very few had ever had the privilege of seeing.

"You look lovely, Rill."

* * *

Rill woke up sometime around two in the morning on her last day in Wutai. Hearing the Planet was always more difficult the further apart she was from Aeris. Their combined strength let them receive impressions and warnings more clearly when they were close. But Rill would have to be deaf to not hear what was being shouted in her ear.

 _Someone important is nearby. But it's not Sephiroth or Zack otherwise it wouldn't have woken me._ Her breath caught. _Genesis...?_ She didn't really want to face him. An anonymous package had showed up on her balcony shortly after Christmas containing a red rose cast in spun glass. No note, but Rill suspected who it had come from...

She hoped it wasn't Genesis. She didn't think she could face him. Four months didn't seem like such a long time when she thought back to how they had said goodbye, and how he had taken his leave. She didn't think it was Genesis since her last impression from the planet had been to get away from him and stay far away...But she was still uneasy.

 _Do I have to?_ She asked, sitting up in her bed. The answer came and was unmistakable. She held in a groan and got up, moving with a care to not step on creaky places in the floor.

Her senses were ranging far and wide, the purple materia in her bangle glowing as Rill crept through the silent buildings, avoiding any sentries. Given that the two sides had recently been at war, she was unsurprised that there were guards stationed at night. Usually, she wouldn't have stood a chance of sneaking away, but through some Goddess given blessing, and a strong reliance on her Tremorsense materia, Rill managed to slip out of the city unnoticed. As soon as she did, Rill channeled power into her Infrared materia to help guide her. The world lit up in various shades of blue and green as she followed the gentle tugging at her heartstrings towards her goal. Whatever it might be.

Rill had a few close encounters with some native animals that might have been dangerous, but in tune with the Planet as she was, it was no trouble to convey that she meant no harm and they left her alone.

 _Where are you...?_ She wondered, scanning what area she could see with her heat sensing vision. _Who are you...?_ Now that she was thinking some more, she admitted that it might be possible that she was supposed to meet someone else entirely and not Genesis. After all, she wouldn't have considered Cloud as special, an ordinary infantryman as he was, yet there had almost been as much of an attraction to him as the one which had originally brought her to Shinra.

Rill crept over the ground with some more speed now that she was away from human eyes, though she still used natural cover as much as possible. Her own steps on the turf made her wince in her enhanced ears. She might be able to be quick and quiet in the city almost without thinking, but she had little recent experience with the country.

Rill crouched in the shadow of some boulders, pressing her hands to the ground and putting a concentrated burst of power into her Tremor materia.

Her awareness flared out briefly. She was suddenly omniscient of everything on the ground within a mile or so. She could feel the splashing of a spring against some rocks to the south and the beginnings of the geological changes that would lead to the narrow valleys that made up most of Wutai's south. She could feel something, a person it felt like, alive there, drinking from the spring, pulse calm and relaxed, and-

The Planet made itself plain.

That was who she was here to see.

She pulled back, aware that she would need to rest a lot in order to recover from the magic expenditure that came from this stunt. And she also had a throbbing headache from the torrent of sensory information she had opened herself to. But that, thankfully, soon faded.

The closer she came, the more familiar the person became to her senses. Rill picked her way over the stones towards her target. She was within It wasn't someone she could name blindfolded, but-

"Who's there?" Came a baritone voice that she recognized.

"Angeal?" She called out softly. She felt his heart beat start to pick up, heard the Planet murmur soothingly in her mind. He wouldn't harm her. Something was off with his silhouette...

There came a flare of light that was soon muted. He lit a small hand lantern, an old thing she expected he had salvaged somewhere.

The light revealed the man, tall, broad shouldered and with several weeks worth of stubble on his face. His normally immaculate SOLDIER uniform had clearly been hard used, but he was clean and groomed nonetheless. But in spite of his surprise, his didn't seem wary or hostile of her. Suddenly his silhouette was normal. _Odd._

"Come into the light where I can see you please." Rill shut off her Infrared materia and approached the warm circle of orange light without fear. Angeal... How surprising.

"Miss Nerilka?" His surprise was palpable. Then again, he had never seen her as Rill, only as the secretary that was used to wrangling Zack without getting a hair out of place.

"Rill." She corrected automatically, regarding him. "What happened? We haven't heard anything from you in weeks." He was still too busy being surprised to answer.

"What are you doing outside the walls? It's dangerous!" So he had known, or guessed, that she was here with Shinra and thus staying in the primary city. Whose name she, sadly, couldn't pronounce in spite of Yuffie's efforts to educate her.

 _Be honest._

"I couldn't sleep." She admitted, "And I had a feeling I needed to be out here tonight."

"That was extraordinarily foolish of you, Miss Nerilka. This area was never a battle field, but there are still monsters to be concerned about." She sensed a tightening in his muscles as he said this.

"I haven't seen any tonight." Rill replied, regarding him closely. "You didn't answer my question. What are you doing out here?"

Angeal sighed, picking up his lantern and adjusted the hood so that only a fraction of it's light emerged, plunging them mostly into darkness.

"I...could not stay allied with Shinra...Not after the last battle." _The soldier is weary_. He just wanted out because he was tired of fighting. Yet this was desertion, something that someone of Angeal's character and principles couldn't condone. And Shinra would be as willing to let Angeal go as they would be to ignore Genesis' recent actions.

 _Most SOLDIER of their rank retire to the Lifestream._ There wasn't any program set in place for the officers who wanted to retire, but weren't forced to do so through crippling. Shinra hadn't been around long enough for that to really come into play at all.

"Was it the killing that turned you off, or something else?" Was it what he had been ordered to do, or that Genesis, his best friend since childhood, had become bitter and deserted? Rill saw his hand tighten on the lantern he held.

"If I tell you, will you not speak of it to anyone and let escort you back to safety?"

"Not a soul without your permission." She gave her word, and after being subject to an intense, glowing blue star that she could see clearly in the darkness, he sighed and gestured.

"Then let us walk and talk, Miss Nerilka. We don't have that long before people notice you're missing."

"I've met with Genesis. I saw him after Zack took Fort Tamberlin." Angeal admitted to Rill as they moved through the darkness. "He asked me to join him in his fight against Shinra, claiming that the company brings more misery than happiness. But his heart wasn't in it, so I turned him down."

"Wasn't in convincing you or wasn't in his stated reason?"

"His reason." Angeal said with a nod. "Something is troubling Genesis, but it isn't what Shinra does or stands for." Rill bit her lip to keep from asking if Angeal knew what had driven Genesis away. It wasn't relevant right now. Not as far as she could see anyway.

"So what made you stay away?"

"After the war is over, what is there left for a Shinra SOLDIER to do?"

"Retire, unless they want to stay on hand for monster control." Rill replied. She had processed some men who wanted to withdraw from SOLDIER after their enlistment expired for whatever reason. But admittedly, none of the 1st Class had ever wanted to withdraw. They were too close to the world fame that had usually driven them to join SOLDIER in the first place.  
"And for me, or Sephiroth? If we wanted to retire?" Rill winced.

"The paper work would have to be hounded every step of the way to get anywhere. And even it was pushed through, some obscure clause that no one had even heard of before would come up that would drag you back in."

"Shinra doesn't like letting go of publicity." Angeal agreed. "Better to die in the last battle than have to endure a purgatory that doesn't even end in freedom."

"You're essentially faking your own death. Very believably too. In the chaos of battle, you've been listed as MIA until someone can find you. Another few months, and you'll be declared killed in action. You have it remarkably easy if you want to disappear. Any civilian not caught in some kind of natural disaster, combat, or similar event would have to hide for at least ten years without being sighted before they're declared legally dead." Rill was aware that Angeal was fixing her with a strange look.

"I'm not surprised that you caught on, but why do you know how long it takes until a civilian is declared legally dead?" Rill gave a sheepish grin that she knew was more akin to Zack that the face Angeal had seen before.

"I...may or may not hatch schemes to get out of Shinra as stress relief...I've worked my way up to the various ways I can fake my own death, and how long I'd have until I was home free." Angeal stared at her for a long moment Then he shook his head and laughed softly.

"That makes far more sense than it should...I wondered how you managed to stay sane." Rill felt the attack coming, tensing and reaching for her magic pool. Angeal's reflexes for combat read her cue, and reacted in an instant, turning to face the Tail Vault that came at him in a mad tumble down the side of the ravine, while two of them flung themselves at Rill from the bushes. The creature was part lizard and part insect with vicious spines on its back that it used as it's primary weapon, flinging themselves back first at their prey when they travelled in groups and could get the advantageous ground. Otherwise, they would do as they were to Rill and come at them head on, relying on their clawed legs to cover ground and deal damage.

 _Going for the weaker target._ Rill thought, bringing her Ice Materia to life with a push of her magic at the crystal as she tried to dodge without exposing Angeal's back to the enemy. She let fly with a burst of razor sharp ice shards that impacted them both and cut their lunge short. She didn't let up, laying down a thick sheet of ice that ensnared their limbs, keeping them from recovering for an instant. But she was tired and it wasn't as thick as it might have been had she not been using magic constantly for almost two hours trying to find Angeal...

One of them lurched in her trap, and screeched at her, angry with the dark blood that ran from the puncture wounds she had given them. The ice holding them down started to creak as they redoubled their efforts... Rill's heart was pounding, her mind swam, trying to focus on something other than the blood that was wafting her way.

"Angeal?!"

"Hold on." She heard him grunt and the dying gurgle of his adversary.

The Tail Vaults sprang free from Rill's trap and she barely had time to pulled up a fragile shield of ice and skip back out of their reach. For all she could handle the monsters of the slums, these were a massive step up from the mutated pests that hunted in the lower city.

Rill saw the Tail Vaults lunging at her, but then she was enveloped in something soft and white and was being pulled back and away from danger. She found herself behind the 1st Class Soldier as he finished off their attackers. But she was staring at what had burst from his shoulder and had been responsible for getting her out of harm's way. Angeal's back had still been turned, but his wing had wrapped around her and swept her off her feet as he turned, ending with her behind him, and him facing the Tail Vaults.

A wing.

A pure white wing that gleamed pale blue under the moonlight.

Angeal finished the Tail Vault's in two swift blows of his hands, but he didn't turn back to face Rill. She felt that he seemed to be keenly ashamed. By the light of the dropped lantern, Rill saw that the back of his shirt had been ripped open, and that there were many tattered threads hanging there as if it had been torn and sewn shut repeatedly in a similar manner.

 _This must be why he didn't come back..._ Rill realized. Mutations among SOLDIER weren't uncommon, especially if someone had an especially bad reaction to Mako. They were just kept as quiet as possible. But that was only a risk during the initial infusion process. Something Angeal should have been long past. To grow a whole new , fully functional limb.

 _He is Honor._ The Planet said clearly.

Rill swallowed, moving forward and placing her hand on Angeal's arm. He didn't pull away, but he did turn his face away.

"Not a soul without your permission." She repeated her promise.

"Monster's don't have souls, Miss Nerilka. I'm not human anymore." She sensed a small strain of something in him...

 _The Calamity._ Angeal resonated with an echo of the same dark corruption that she had felt in Genesis. But she didn't feel afraid, There wasn't any warning in her to get away from the manifestation of her old enemy. Just the deep, urgent desire of a mother to wrap her hurting child in a loving embrace and chase the nightmares away. Rill froze at what the Planet was telling her to say.

 _Are you crazy!?_ She demanded, eyes wide. _I've never told anyone aloud!_

 _It is needed. Look closer. He is not the Calamity. He won that battle. His fight is in his heart and how he views himself. That is where the danger is._

Angeal wasn't like Genesis. He had proved that when he hadn't done anything that made Rill fear him. Even during the fight, he had moved only to protect her and nothing more. She still felt trepidation, but she took a deep breath and let her words come out.

"So?" She asked, steeling herself. "I'm not human." Angeal went still. The positive humming from the Planet chased away Rill's fear and uncertainty, leaving only zen like peace in it's place. Slowly turning and looking down at her with disbelief.

"What?" Rill just smiled, feeling...oddly at peace despite having voiced the secret that she had kept her entire life.

"It'd take too long to explain out here." She said simply. "And we've seen that lingering is a bad idea. For me at least. I'm reasonably sure that there isn't much anything out here that would be a threat to you."

"Nerilka..." Angeal sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You've been spending too much time with Zack if you think that you can drop something like that on me and not give me some sort of explanation." But she sensed there was hope in him. He was hopeful...

Rill smiled up at him, all but vibrating with the Planet's love for this man. He wasn't perfect, but he was good,he was trying. And that was all that it cared for. Angeal would always try to do what he felt was right and even though that was what was driving him to despair, the Planet loved him for it.

"I'm an Ancient, Angeal. Or descended from them anyway. Simply being human is no way of classifying life or sentience." She wanted to touch the wing that Angeal held loosely, half open at his side. "Besides, those are monsters." She gestured at the Tail Vaults that were already fading into the Lifestream. "They are what just tried to kill me." She tapped Angeal's chest. "This is the person that saved my life."

"How can you accept it that easily...?" he asked in a wondering tone. "I have a wing, Nerilka!"

"And it's beautiful." She replied, admiring the white feathers that all but glowed in the moonlight. "And I'll say it again: it, and by extension you, just saved my life. Why should it matter to me that you have a wing? You're still Angeal, that hasn't changed." Rill smiled as the Planet's voice grew stronger. "Though not for lack of trying on some part..."

Angeal's eyes went wide, and Rill continued.

"You felt it, didn't you...that something was trying to make you change. Make you angry enough to join Genesis, to go back to fighting."

"Like a dark whisper underneath my thoughts." He said numbly. "My instinct for battle wanted me to return. Wanted to stay the best fighter I could be..."

"But you didn't. You turned it down, and sent it away. And over time as you meditate, the voice has grown quieter and quieter until you can barely hear it." Rill's voice was calm and serene. She spoke with more certainty than she ever had about anything before. She could all but see the course laid out before her. The way Angeal had felt as he struggled with the Calamity's urges.

"Every time you thought you were a monster, it comes back. It tells you to take up your sword and continued the war. It plays on what you took the most pride in, twisting it and driving confusion and self loathing deeper and deeper into your mind."

"Yes..." Angeal breathed. "But I didn't want that...I didn't want to keep being a monster...a beast that can't do anything except kill..."

"And you resolved that you wouldn't ever become a monster, that you would never give in to that voice." Rill finished, looking at his single, snow white wing and feeling the Planet hum with happiness in time with her words. She felt like something greater than herself was speaking through her.

"You've already won that battle Angeal. But that isn't why you're feeling so at war with yourself. You're thinking that if you want to keep your pride as a SOLDIER you have to keep fighting something, keep hold of your sword, live and die by it: That is a lie. It's not a SOLDIER's pride you want to keep. SOLDIER is a title. A prestigious one, yes, but that's not what made you get up every morning for all these years." A slight change in the light towards the east made Rill's breath draw in slightly. She knew that she needed to get back to bed soon unless she wanted to give some uncomfortable explanations.

"What is it then?" Rill's focus broke and she exhaled, feeling the Planet's guidance leave her mind, leaving her very alone, a little cold in the mountain spring and shaking slightly.

"I can't tell you what goes on in your mind." Her voice was just her own again, the quiet anticipation that had forced the rest of the world to listen as she spoke was gone and the usual nightly noises were coming back. "Cetra, Ancient's as people call them nowadays, are meant to be in tune with the Planet. They only get insight for other people because they're part of the Lifestream. But what I think?" She sighed and shook her head before looking back at him.

"You want to be a good man more than you want to be a SOLDIER."

* * *

 _I don't know what you were doing while you were in Wutai, but the Planet started singing just before you came home._ Rill and Aeris relaxed in the church, surrounded by flowers and the planet, who was still almost sickeningly cheerful at Rill's latest work.

 _I was giving advice that I hope helped someone. I told him to come here to meet us if he wants to know more about us. More than that I can't say. I promised._ Aeris' hand wound into Rill's as the cousin's leaned into one another in the weak sunlight that came in through the patchy roof.

 _I understand._


	18. The tired man

"I told you that cement sets a lot faster than you think it will. You didn't believe me and it's your own fault you're stuck." Sephiroth massaged his forehead, brow twitching slightly. "Rill is busy cleaning up after Reno. That is still your fault by the way. What were you thinking giving him a bow and arrow?...I don't care if it's Valentine's Day!...Who do you think I asked how long it takes cement to set?"

"Do my ears detect the sound of an eternal battle?" Rill asked lightly.

"Always...Always, Rill.."

* * *

"What is so terrible about wearing bunny slippers?" Sephiroth asked as Rill made to run out of her office after Cloud's distress call. Her fondness for the infantryman puzzled him, but he had no real objection to it. Aeris vouched for the boy as well and he had seen him, on his days off, as he came by to help with the flowers. Though Sephiroth suspected it was the company that drew him more than the work...

He had been...marginally scary just to see what his intentions were towards the girls. The kid hadn't given way. He had more guts than most seasoned veterans that Sephiroth knew. He found it hard to believe Cloud had washed out of SOLDIER due to nerves. Then again, it was hard to be afraid of someone when a mother had them by the ear and was berating them for being rude. His ear was still throbbing...

"It isn't so much that he wears them, sir. But rather...how he wears him." Rill's mouth was drawn into a disturbed frown. "And what he wears them with. It makes children cry."

Sephiroth thought back...and paled since Rill's last call had been made to a dress shop...

Cloud was a brave kid... Yet Zack's current appearance had made him call Rill in the middle of the day...

* * *

"What did he do this time?" Sephiroth asked, trying to block out the faint music that was playing over the sound speakers. A cheerful melody that grated on his nerves.

"Zack started a mariachi band with some Costan boys." Rill replied, offering him some earplugs with a small smile.

"You're not stopping them?" In answer, Rill showed Sephiroth some of the latest messages on her PHS. They were from Rufus.

 _Memo:_ _Find out who charged the serenading mariachi band to the SOLDIER budget. Have them killed._

 _Memo: Kill mariachi band too._

 _Memo: Kill everything._

To: Rufus

From: Nerilka

' _I'm sorry. This request is not within my jurisdiction. Might I recommend some therapy for these anger issues? Stress is not good for your health, sir.'_

"You're letting them annoy Rufus for you." Sephiroth concluded, chuckling.

"I am not discouraging the artistic inclinations of the department." Rill said primly. "There is a vast difference."

"Well, could you please encourage them to learn more than one tune? It starts to chafe after the tenth repetition."

"That I can." Rill sent a text message and almost instantly, the song changed. About a minute later, her phone rang violently. Rill answered with a pleasant smile that held only the faintest touch of mischief.

"Nerilka speaking?"

" _Rill, I mean it! Get that stupid band to shut up or I will kill them!"_

"That is Miss Thomas to you, sir. And you brought this on yourself, chiefly. You were starting to get somewhat delusional."

" _So you're trying to deprive me of the rest of my sanity!?"_

"No, I am waiting for the sedative to take effect." She replied calmly. "Have a nice nap, sir." With that, she hung up the phone and went back to work. Sephiroth would have done the same were he not face down on his desk, laughing.

* * *

Some madness didn't have to take place within the Shinra building. It just seemed to follow some people...

Tseng was listening to his messages, anticipating there being many, as usual, from Reno.

*BEEP* "RECEIVED AT: 3:04 AM" *BEEP* " _This is the Last Will and Testament of Reno the Turk-"_ Tseng deleted it before he listened to more. It was the fifth such message he had received from Reno. It was listed as sometime early this morning. _3 am...What did he do that made it so he thought he had to dictate his Will to me at 3 am...?_ Tseng didn't get headaches, but Reno seemed determined to challenge that. He made a mental note to ask Rill to try and dig up what was trying to kill him this time and why.

 _Next...?_

*BEEP* "RECEIVED AT: 3:06 AM" *BEEP* " _This is Sephiroth."_ This was surprising. Sephiroth rarely called him. He didn't have to, since they both knew Rill, she usually took care of any conflicts- " _By the time you return this call, I will have probably already killed your subordinate."_ The man's tone was icy smooth and deadly. Tseng's instincts for danger were screaming at him.

" _If you want to claim any remaining parts, please return my call and leave a message."_ Tseng had every intention of doing so, as soon as possible but first...

To: Rill

From: Tseng

 _What did Reno to do earn Sephiroth's ire and is he still alive? If not, can he be put back together?_

Then he called the general himself.

" _General Sephiroth."_ The man still sounded angry, the frigid controlled fury that made enemies flee in terror.

"Tseng. Where is whatever is left of my subordinate and what did he do?"

" _He managed to escape into the sewers. And unless you want me to hunt him down and return him to you inside a matchbox, I must decline. Suffice to say: Do not let him near me for at least two months, or else I will kill him."_

"Very well. Thank you for reporting, general. We'll take it from here." _What in Ramuh's name did Reno do!?_ Angering Sephiroth was the pinnacle of an adrenaline rush for Reno and he hadn't truly managed to get him to try and kill him in a bloody, violent way in over a year. Not since Rill began to soothe the mighty beast with cookies and her mere presence.

Tseng got a message.

To: Tseng

From: Rill

 _I don't have any idea what is happening. I think it has something to do with the fact that Reno snuck into my apartment sometime around 11 last night and thinks I didn't notice him. He looked exhausted, was bloody, beaten and smelt somewhat drunk, so I let him sleep. I don't know how Sephiroth got involved beyond the fact he showed up at 3 AM with Masamune and proceeded to chase Reno out of a window. I last saw him go into a sewer._

Tseng read this...then searched if he had any further messages from Reno.

*BEEP* "RECEIVED AT: 5:22 AM" *BEEP* " _Hiding in Rufus's closet. May be late tomorrow or covered in leeches. Don't ask."_

Then he found a few electronic memos from the Vice President himself.

 _Memo: Think Dark Nation may have had puppies in the closet._

 _Memo: Might be kittens._

 _Memo: Find out what Dark Nation is, exactly._

 _Memo: Fire Reno. This time, into the Sun._

* * *

The transition from a company in an active combat to the expansion and reallocation of resources that were going into rebuilding Wutai meant many things.

For one, it meant that the budgets were being cut for many of the lower ranks. For another, it meant that suddenly there was much less focus on weapons and similar items and more focus placed on those things that a people entering peace would want.

It was a busy time to be working for Shinra. Everything seemed to be turned on it's head, or else was somehow being balanced on it's pancreas. A lot of direct control was being asserted as the company was reorganized. It was _perfectly_ standard procedure for the most part, people being put in charge of things that they normally wouldn't have anything to do with...!

One such...mix up, was that Director Lazard had, effectively, split the SOLDIER department into two. One was in charge of looking for Genesis and actively combating AVALANCHE alongside the Turks. The other was fulfilling the need for guards, patrols and monster elimination. Rill was in the latter part of this alongside Sephiroth. The General himself wasn't being sent after Genesis, because they were old friends. There was no sentimentality in the decision. Rather, the company wanted to avoid the drama and media attention that would result if the mission were given an obvious high priority. There had been some talk of getting Rill put on this task force, transferring her out from under Sephiroth, but this hadn't been well received by the general. One failed attempt was all that had been permitted. Unfortunately, with two out of three commanders being either missing or a renegade, Sephiroth was in charge of training their replacements, and the remainder of the army, personally. This took him out of the administration and let him connect with his troops, which was good. But it left Rill without a boss to take things up to the board and since she couldn't get promoted much higher in the department without having Mako enhancements, it meant she had a new executive to report to.

" _I've gotten my father to see reason that pouring money into Weapon's Development is a waste of time."_ Rufus told Rill over the phone, once more out of the city after a brief pause from his tour of the various assets Shinra possessed that needed to be inspected and re-evaluated after the war. " _He's changing focus to that old idea of sending someone into space."_

"Very interesting, sir. What does that have to do with my original question?"

" _You're still reporting to me because Lazard is occupied with tracking down Genesis."_

"That is a Turk operation, and not SOLDIER based." Rill said flatly into her phone. "Why am I handling this paperwork?" The sting had eased somewhat over the last six months since Genesis had gone rogue. But she still felt a dull ache whenever she saw his name on a document or heard it mentioned.

" _You've brought this on yourself, my dear, by being competent."_ She could hear his smirk through the line.

"Such a curse." She spoke drolly. "I'm getting overworked again, Mr Vice President and my own department is suffering because of it. I shouldn't have to remind you that I am the SOLDIER department's secretary. Not yours." He had been sending her more work lately and insisting that she be the one to do it. Sephiroth was starting to get annoyed as well, but he simply accounted it to poor management in the chaos of cleaning up the war effort. Rill knew better and wasn't so meek as to take this lying down. How in the world Rufus had managed to get some power over the SOLDIER department was beyond even her mind, but it had happened and Lazard wasn't doing anything about it. Rufus snorted softly.

" _Have you ever been detained, Miss Nerilka? Because that tongue of yours surely qualifies as a lethal weapon."_

"Hardly, sir. Your ego is still alive and well after all." Rill's tone while polite, contained as much frost into her voice as she could.

This drew a laugh from the travelling Vice President.

" _Was that humor, Miss Nerilka? Do you deign to consider me worthy of your humor?"_

"The kind of humor you are worthy of is very far removed from where I draw the line." She replied glibly. "I'd love to joust wits with you further, sir. But much of the enjoyment is removed when I cannot see you twitch whenever I land a blow."

" _You are certainly feeling feisty today. Any particular reason for that?"_

"Unless you are prepared to converse on topics related to business, Mr Vice President, I bid you a good morning."

" _So cold, woman."_ Far from being hurt, Rufus sounded delighted when he said this and turned it into a compliment of the highest order.

This concluded their conversation. Rill ended the call thereafter before looking over the day's schedule of monster patrols, marking who had been injured during their duty and who was being sent out to replace them.

Her door slid open, the Planet's murmuring made Rill look up.

Zack seemed subdued as he trudged inside. The usual energy that flowed off of him in contagious waves was conspicuously absent. Rill felt that he was more than just sad, this was grief. Complete and total mourning.

"Zack?" Rill rose from her desk and moved towards the tall SOLDIER. He didn't say anything to in response, just hugged her. Though the gesture seemed to be more a plea for comfort than an offer of support.

"Zack, what's wrong?"

"Director Lazard declared Angeal... Killed in Action... He's calling in everyone looking for him and putting them onto Genesis." Zack said, voice muffled from where he was pressing his face into her shoulder.

Sympathy and guilt warred for dominance inside Rill as she listened to the Planet's dissertation of Zack's current state.

He was heartbroken at his mentor's announced death. Frustrated and angry that there wouldn't be any further efforts to look for him, even to try and retrieve a body for a funeral. Angeal had only been seven or eight years Zack's senior, but the 2nd Class SOLDIER idolized his mentor to a certain extent and he definitely saw him as a paternal figure of some kind. Angeal was who he was modelling his life and career after.

"He's not dead, Rill..." He muttered against her shoulder. "'Geal wouldn't just up and die like that...Gotta keep looking..."

"If you believe that, has it occurred to you, Zack, that he might not want to be found?" Rill asked gently as the man-child of a SOLDIER snuggled up, resting his head on her shoulder. She stroked his spiky black hair reflexively.

"Why?" _Why did he leave? Why hasn't he come back to finish teaching me?_ Rill's guilt died in the face of her concern at what Zack wasn't saying. _He really is out of it..._ Usually, when Zack wanted to know something, you had to filter out at least thirty seconds of chatter before you got anything coherent. This was worrisome.

"...I don't know." She said with a sigh. "Maybe he was tired of fighting."

 _I'm getting tired of hiding and keeping secrets._ Telling Angeal of her heritage had gone over very well, all things considered. It had made her start to wonder just how her friends would react if she did tell them...

The reflexive shiver was barely fought down as Rill continued to hold and comfort Zack like a mother would her child.

Was the wariness she was feeling at the notion the Planet or her own fear?

* * *

Zack was still mostly despondent and it was throwing everyone who knew him for a loop. Rill had sent him and Reno out of the tower, giving the redhead explicit instructions to get Zack into something crazy to try and revive his spirit.

This had made Reno stare at her like she had just grown an extra head. She could see he was oddly reluctant to go, in spite of her direct request. She didn't see why he would be so concerned...

Apparently when one went looking for trouble, it was much harder to find. Rill hadn't heard anything from Reno all morning. But, nothing had been reported mysteriously missing, no sirens had gone off and there weren't any frantic calls from the zoo. She honestly made a mental note of the strange occurrence. If this was something that could apply for more than one situation, she might just be able to cut the majority of the SOLDER departments damages down to almost nothing...

 _Rill?_ Aeris's voice came into her mind sounding rather...confused. _Why is there a SOLDIER in the church?_ The secretary blinked sitting very still.

 _What is he doing?_

 _He appears to be sleeping. He looks exhausted, he just crashed right in the middle of the flowerbed... I don't think I'm in any danger, the Planet sounds as though she likes him a great deal. But I am still..._ Aeris heaved a sigh. _Rill, life used to be so much simpler before you started working up there..._

 _It also used to be predictable and boring._ Rill replied pertly, smiling faintly. _If you don't feel threatened, go ahead and leave him be. I'll be down once I get off work._

There was silence...Rill resisted the urge to laugh out loud as she felt the faint edges of chagrin emitting from her cousin.

 _You already woke him, didn't you?_

 _He was crushing the flowers!_

 _Flowers that you can literally grow in your sleep._ There was silence for a few moments, then Rill felt a faint stirring of the Planet.

She had to go down to the church. As soon as she could.

 _He asked for you._ Aeris reported. _I think you'd better get down here..._

 _I feel it. I'm on my way. Be there in about 20 minutes._

* * *

Rill used her prefered route to the church, sliding down a long sturdy cable easily and landing lightly on the church roof. As soon as her feet touched down, her senses were assailed with a familiar touch of peace and ease.

Rill peeked through a gap in the roof tiles, expecting to see a spiky-haired puppy. Instead... "Angeal?" The ex-SOLDIER turned his face up at her voice and she could see his mouth fall open. She couldn't hold in giggle at his dumbfounded expression.

Maintaining her office persona so perfectly to some people made those moments when she could break character all the more satisfying.

"Nerilka!? What in the world are you doing on the roof?"

"Coming down." She answered cheerfully. "Half a mo'. Be there in a flash!" Rill went and swarmed down an ivy covered wall, feeling as sturdy plants dug their strange roots more firmly into the side of the building to give her more support as she descended. She let a touch of her Lifestream enter them in thanks even as she trotted inside.

Angeal looked well. Better than he had been when she'd seen him in Wutai to be certain. He was standing straighter for one, and there was the familiar glint of life and determination in his eyes now that she took for granted in him.

"You're certainly full of surprises, Nerilka. I didn't know you had any family." His eyes flicked to Aeris for an instant and Rill saw the question even if he didn't mean to ask it.

"Aeris is like me, Angeal." She assured him, certain in the church's ability to keep their conversation private. "In fact she's a good bit better than me at being an Ancient..."

"Says the girl who managed to make her own materia." Aeris quipped, pouting as she knelt to begin weeding. To his credit, Angeal barely flinched at being told this. He just looked at Rill without any expression.

She sighed and held up her wrist and the bangle from Sephiroth, tapping the two homebrews she had made.

"I like playing with the fusion machine." She said by way of explanation. Angeal's brows lifted slightly at the design of the six slot bracelet and she saw the question being directed at her. Rill couldn't quite suppress a faint pinkness in her cheeks at the query. "It's a Christmas gift." She hedged.

"Sephiroth gave it to her." Aeris reported cheerfully.

"Why doesn't that surprise me..?" Angeal looked far too amused for a dead man. _Oh yeah..._

"You've been declared dead." She informed him. "You're home free, so what in the world are you doing here?" Sure, the camera's in the slums weren't the best quality and Rill knew first hand that those responsible for screening them did so once every few months. But it was still a fairly...well, stupid move for someone who wanted to disappear.

"I had some more questions." He said, assuming parade rest, hands clasped behind his back and standing straight and tall without any apparent effort, despite the massive Buster Sword on his back.

"We should be able to help with some of that." Aeris spoke up again, dusting some dirt off her hands. "But keep in mind, we only know so much and it's hard for the Planet to get a live connection with us here, since the Mako reactors drain it at such an intense rate."

"Nerilka has proven herself to be my superior in wisdom and patience on many occasions, Miss Gainsborough." Angeal said to Aeris with a nod. "With or without any supernatural aid."

"Then just ask." The flower girl said with a warm smile. "We'll help in any way we can. And call me Aeris."~

* * *

Angeal hadn't been sure what to make of Nerilka when he had first met her. She seemed quiet, meek and efficient. A good addition to the department but not something he expected to become so central to his friend's lives.

Nerilka had what appeared to be a flawless grasp on her temper and he suspected she was clairvoyant. There was no other way that she could do what she was doing otherwise. It was a popular theory and one that, as far as he knew, would remain strong and viable for as long as she worked there, if it didn't pass into corporate legend. Then when she defended the young infantryman from some foolish rookies, he saw she was also brave and had a strong sense of right and wrong. Distressingly, she took it to the point of disregarding her own life and safety if it meant helping another person. Angeal could already see just how good she would be for Sephiroth. She had already worked wonders on him.

Genesis's hostility hadn't fooled him. Not completely. There was more being protective of their mutual friend than actual dislike in his interactions with the Nerilka. Angeal had been there to witness the awkward drama that had come from his childhood friend's first crush back in Banora. It was different to be sure, but similar in the sense that the girl he had fallen for didn't take crap from anybody if she felt she was in the right. Genesis's temper hadn't been pushed that far back then, but the girl he had admired had been a brash, fearless tomboy of a spitfire that liked climbing the tallest trees and picking more fruit during harvest than the rest of the children put together.

It had blown over around the same time that they had gone to enlist in SOLDIER and that had been the end of it.

He had gotten somewhat concerned as Genesis became more and more aggressive towards the civilian woman. Trying to approach the topic had only resulted in the redhead snapping irritably and sulking. Sulking!

Angeal had almost been to the point where he would knock some sense into his friend by force. Then the state dinner had taken place. And both Sephiroth and Genesis hadn't been able to look away from Nerilka on the young Vice President's arm for very long, though Genesis always denied that he had been looking. Sephiroth and Genesis were almost constantly at odds over the woman working in such close proximity with him. But this...?

This promised to be a whole new issue of the highest order and Angeal wasn't looking forward to when things came to a head.

It had passed on smoothly, much to his surprise. Sephiroth was supportive, glad that Genesis was finally being civil towards his only female friend. There hadn't been any issues until she fell ill and it was Sephiroth who was present and helped nurse her back to health.

Things had gone downhill quickly from there.

Now here he was, almost a full year after meeting the girl, and everything had changed, for better or for worse.

The girls told him about the Calamity, what it was and what it had been known to do. What it had done to their ancestors.

He told them what Shinra was calling it, and what Genesis had told him about their origins in effort to win him over to his side.

"Jenova..." Rill mused, looking slightly ill, her dark blue eyes were huge in her suddenly pale face. Aeris wasn't much better, but she took a deep breath all the same.

"So that's what they named it..."

"They refer to it as a female, considering that her genetic material contributes to so many...children." Angeal said with some distaste. It hadn't helped when the two Cetra girls had affirmed to him that Jenova was the root of the monsters in the world, having mutated and altered much of the natural life that their people had cultivated for the worse.

Rill and Aeris exchanged a long look, and Angeal added telepathy to Rill's supernatural abilities. Either that, or they just knew each other well and had discussed the problem before.

"On the one hand, giving her a name makes her less omnipotent." Rill began dryly.

"On the other, it humanizes her." Aeris finished with a sigh. "She did give a name back when she first landed, before her mutations became apparent and she attacked outright. But the closest thing I could translate it to was 'all-consuming hunger', 'malice' and various other terms for the same."

"How do you know that?" Angeal wasn't able to hold back the query. The girls once again exchanged glances, but for not for as long.

"You know what materia are, Angeal?" Rill asked slowly. "Or what the poetic refer to them as?"

"Crystalised memories of the Planet." The ex-SOLDIER said with a bittersweet smile. It had been something genesis liked to talk about. "You mean to say that it true? That you can read the past through materia?"

"Flickers of it, anyway. Usually only of things that pertain to it's creation." Aeris affirmed softly, brushing gentle fingertips over the petals of a bright yellow flower. "There is a lot of history to be heard even in the cast off of a mastered materia."

"And somehow, you two can hear stories of when Jenova first came to this Planet..." Rill shook her head.

"I can't. It's why I said Aeris was better at this than I am. I just have intuition for things that are going on right now, and very occasionally a little precognition about the more distant future. But when it comes to listening to the Planet directly, Aeris has me beat every time."

"You were more into learning about this than me." The green eyed Cetra girl protested. "I'd never have dared touch on half of what we do now if you hadn't been there to be my courage!"

"And I'd probably be a Honeybee girl by now if you hadn't run away to find me." RIll shot back. Angeal didn't flinch at the thought of Rill being in that...profession. But he did blanch somewhat at the idea. If she had been, she almost certainly would never have met Sephiroth and Genesis. On the other hand, if Rill were ever brought into that kind of situation now...

"Irrelevant." Aeris said firmly. "I may hear more, but you're better at acting on what you do hear. Otherwise you'd never have applied for the job."

"The Planet told you to go work for Shinra?" Angeal interrupted, his surprise overcoming his amused fondness at what looked to be a well rehearsed argument between sisters. This made Rill pause and look at him with a sigh and regret in her gaze.

"Yes..."

"Why?" Why did she look upset and guilty? She had done an incredible amount of good. More so than anyone who participated in combat in the war.

"I didn't hear the details." Rill admitted. "Just that it had something to do with Sephiroth. The Planet always gets really happy whenever Sephiroth is around our family."

"I have noticed that you've changed him significantly." Angeal mused. _Does she even know how much?_ "If it weren't for you, he would be much worse off right now. As would I." This last admission was soft and barely audible, but Aeris smiled as if she had heard him clearly.

He had gotten answers and given them. He had better leave before someone discovered him in the city. Conversing with a dead deserter would land both of them in some very hot water. Knowledge of his being alive wasn't something he didn't want to put onto anyone's shoulders. It was almost more than he could have asked for that Rill hadn't given him away and kept his secret. Letting him slip into the obscurity of a supposed death.

Angeal stood straight and looked straight at the woman he had worked alongside and never truly known. She was little more than a girl in the company of her kin and surrounded by life in an otherwise dying city. Her eyes were still downcast and burdened...

The eyes of a commander who had the deaths of men on his hands.

 _She feels guilty for Genesis' actions._ Angeal realized, momentarily cursing his childhood friend for the pain he was inflicting on her through his behavior. In some way, she felt as if the desertion and resulting death and uncertainty was her fault.

It was the same sort of guilt he had over leading his men into battle, resulting in some of them dying. It was something every commander had to face.

Rill may never have lead soldiers in combat, but she had changed people's lives. He imagined the what she was feeling was similar to what he had to cope with everyday.

"Whatever is making you worry, Nerilka. Whatever action you have taken that makes you feel responsible for what is happening now: Please don't feel guilty over it." Striking blue eyes, warm and real compared the eerie glow of Mako, met his gaze with some confusion. It was remarkably similar to when Zack had first become his student and he had needed to teach him about responsibility and when it was correct and when it was not to feel guilt.

The familiar circumstances made Angeal feel more certain as he continued.

"You had the choice to either act on what you were told, or to do nothing. You chose to act and it has brought about consequences. You acted as you saw fit and were ready to accept what would follow might be dangerous to you, or cost you your safety. But no one can ever see all the consequences for something they do, be it good or bad. Genesis deserting Shinra is not your fault."

"He all but told me what he was planning weeks before he attacked the city." Rill said with an uncharacteristic note of bitterness in her usually calm, sweet voice. "He told me when he was leaving and how. And he would have told me more had I let him. I could have tried to talk him out of it-" Angeal rested his hand on her shoulder, cutting off her self deprecating words. These had likely been hovering in the back of her mind like a slow poison ever since Genesis attacked. But this poison would only hurt her if she let herself speak it. It would only make the tragedy all the more real and hopeless.

"The past is over and done with, Nerilka." He squeezed her shoulder comfortingly, aware now more than ever just how small and fragile Rill was. For all her calm and composure, she was one woman trying desperately to keep her footing in a treacherous world going through civil unrest while keeping what mattered most to her safe. "We will never know whether anything you have done affected Genesis' choice to leave and start fighting against Shinra." He rested his free hand on her head in as simple and comforting a gesture as he could without hugging her. Strength was something he had always had a problem with and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.

"But I can tell you with almost perfect certainty that the world would be a much darker place without you." He could not stress that enough. He only hoped he could give her the same assurance and support that she had offered him in Wutai.

"The infantry of Shinra would still be treated as disposable pawns with little human right. The destructive, selfish behavior of some of the executives would have gone on unhindered without you standing up against them."

"Anyone with eyes could see the problem-"

"But they didn't fix the problem, and you did." Angeal cut her off firmly, but gently. He couldn't allow for even the barest fraction of doubt to remain in Rill. She had to know just how much good she did...

"Zack would be much worse off without your presence to rely on when I am absent. To steady him and keep him grounded and happy without letting him do something he would regret later." There came a stifled giggle from Aeris that Angeal ignored. It was Rill that he was trying to cheer.

"I would be much worse off without your presence in my life. Genesis' words would never have been swept away by the truth you spoke to me. And I would have remained uncertain of my humanity and filled with self loathing. I don't want to think of where I might have ended up without your kindness." There was a faint, weak smile on Rill's face as he spoke. _Getting closer..._

"And Sephiroth? Without Genesis and myself, he would hardly have any friends. His very connection to the world would be critically weakened. Zack might have been hurt by my departure and feel indignant because of Genesis. But Sephiroth would have been almost completely destroyed. There wouldn't be any part of him left that existed outside of Shinra and it's command. Right now? You've singlehandedly drawn him into multiple other friendships throughout the company." There was a dull flicker of pain and betrayal at what the revelations about his birth had cost him. _How was he supposed to look at the woman he had once called mother ever again...?_

"You've given him a _family_. You've given him a way to learn things he never could before, to experience what family love is like. No one else could ever have given that to him..." Angeal took a step back from Rill who was looking at him with wide eyes.

Angeal straightened into the most heartfelt salute he had ever given.

"You have gone above and beyond the call of duty, Nerilka Thomas. There is a price for everything. But never doubt that you have done good in the lives of those around you."

* * *

Rill wasn't sure what to say in response to Angeal's heartfelt words. The Planet was humming in approval to what the ex-SOLDIER had said. The tall, imposing man despite being more than six and a half feet tall, somehow gave the impression that she was the powerful one here. The respect that he was giving her felt misplaced, misguided. She felt undeserving of it. It had thrown her for a loop as certainly as Genesis' confession had.

Aeris' hand slipped securely into her own.

 _I'd never have dared try to speak back to the Planet without you there. I'd be too scared that I was going crazy to dare dream that it was real._

Aeris' presence wrapped around RIll like a hug, comforting, reassuring and as familiar as the beat of her pulse in her ears. Strength and confidence that felt as fragile as a snowdrop rose inside her.

"Thank you, Angeal."


	19. Taken

Rill felt much lighter than she had felt in months. She no doubt would continued to feel some guilt over Genesis for the rest of her life. But now, her reminding herself that this feeling was irrational had some support from Angeal's heartfelt gratitude and sincerity.

Rill was rarely impulsive, but she decided that this merited a special moment.

She hugged Angeal.

To his credit, he reacted better than Sephiroth had the first time she had done this. But that wasn't a very high bar to clear. It had been something akin to a spazzing, nervous cat for twitchiness. Only he didn't try to escape, and stood as though rooted to the spot with absolutely no idea of what to do with his hands.

Angeal didn't so much as return her hug as envelop her in one.

"You have no idea how much I needed to hear that." She told him, soft, frank, and feeling much more like herself. Her actual self.

"You have no real sense of how many lives you touch and improve." He answered just as quietly, voice rumbling through her. He pulled back, straightening. "I think I've pushed the indolence of the city security for long enough. I'd best be-"

"Don't you dare!" Aeris said, hands on her hips. "They only pay attention to the trouble spots in the slums. They can't afford to put up decent cameras down here. The people just take them down and gut them for materials to sell. What reliable security there is has to be done in person. And there's no one on duty here right now." Rill looked at her askance.

"You actually went and checked?" Aeris shifted and looked a little...guilty?

"Well...the Planet said they had to go somewhere else for awhile, so..."

"Aeris, what did you do?" Rill felt a grin start to fight it's way onto her face.

"Well they were rookies! Both of them!" She burst out, a little incredulously. "I asked Sam and a few of his friends to pickpocket and taunt them so they would chase after them and get out of the area. They had a better idea though..."

"Alright, your innocence in this situation has been noted and duly recorded. Now spill what the kids did."

Aeris shifted...

"Well...they pretended to pickpocket me, I teared up a little..." Rill laughed.

"I knew you had it in you to be devious!" Angeal just shook his head.

"I think I'd better go before my impression of you being nice girls is destroyed."

"Nope! You're staying for dinner and overnight at our place. I have decided."

"Keep in mind he is only a step down from being a wanted fugitive." Rill reminded her cousin with a grin. "No taking him around to make the drifters buzz off, cuz." She tilted her head as the Planet whispered a new impression. "I need to head back above."

"What did she say then?" Aeris asked.

"Something about a chocobo."

* * *

Rill made it to the Sector Four Gate within thirty minutes. About two blocks away from the incident, she got the call. From Reno actually.

She answered before the first ring finished.

" _Rill! Great, you picked up! Where could you stash a catapult without people trying to dismantle it? And you what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen chocobo and does it change if it's on fire? Hypothetically. Tseng didn't know."_

She sighed, climbing some stairs to get a better view of what was going on.

"Once again, you spectacularly miss the important details."

" _Like what?"_

"Like how angry the chocobo will be, that the birds have a very long memory and can run very, very fast." There was dead silence...then the call ended with a noticeable click. Rill heard the angry squawking and Reno's rather feminine scream, both coming from the next street over. Since the situation seemed to have taken care of itself, and she could hear Zack's laughter over the additional noise, she decided that no further intervention was necessary.

* * *

Sephiroth picked up on Rill's improved mood right away. But beyond giving her a smile that made the clerk she was speaking to turn bright red, he made no comment on it as he passed her on the way to his office.

He left Rill to try and calm the hyperventilating female. _I wish he wouldn't do that._

"I didn't know...I didn't know he could look like that..."

"Calm down, Karen, it was just a smile." The woman gave Rill an incredulous stare, startled out of her hysterics.

"...just a smile." Rill blinked.

"Yes? People do smile...?" _What is wrong with her?_ The incessant giggling in the back of her mind made her roll her eyes and glare at nothing even as Karen left. _Shut up Aeris, it's a legitimate question!_

* * *

Emma had gotten into some strange situations as a Turk. The weirdness had only escalated once she started assisting Rill in controlling some of the damage that the...more eccentric Shinra employees managed to do to themselves.

She was currently monitoring Reno's hospital room after an angry chocobo had almost torn him to pieces. _How the hell did he get an eight foot stud female inside the city...?_ On the upside, the missing animal request from that breeding farm towards the mountains had been fulfilled.

But she was being bombarded by idiots questioning her on Sephiroth and Rill's relationship. For one thing, it was none of their business and for another Rill was her friend. The last thing she needed was having more people poking into her private life when she had already become so iconic within the city. Emma gave it a closer look...

She traced the spark back to one clerk who claimed to have seen the General smile at Rill, and Rill not react at all beyond answering the expression. Karen was a fairly intelligent person and had concluded there could only be one real reason as to why Rill would have such an underwhelming reaction.

She was used to seeing it.

 _Now they realize it?_ Emma wondered. _It's not like this hasn't been going on for months if not longer...?_

She had observed that Sephiroth was much more relaxed and open around Rill than he was normally. It was honestly about time the rest of the world caught up.

* * *

 _Warning. Warning. Danger._

Rill could barely hear herself think through the blaring telepathic siren that was resonating in her mind. The Planet had been growing steadily louder and louder over the last week since Zack had been promoted to 1st Class. Aeris was devoting a significant amount of time to praying to try and discern what was going to happen. Rill had just been getting more stressed and exhausted.

"Do I need to send you on a mandatory vacation?"

"That was one time, Sephiroth." She replied, packing up to leave work for the day. "I have not reached that extreme."

"Yet." _I...have no adequate response to that._

"...I'm not that bad."

"Correct. And I won't let you get that bad." The General said with a pleasant smile. "Have a good night, Rill."

"Likewise. Am I to expect you to crash dinner again?"

"Is your aunt making stuffed potatoes?"

"With green onions and chives."

Rill smiled as she left the office. _He'll be there. Sephiroth won't want to miss this._

"Miss Thomas!" Rill paused before getting in the elevator. She didn't recognize the man running towards her, he was somewhat frazzled though.

"Can I help you?" She really wanted to just go home...

"I am terribly sorry to bother you, but I seem to have misplaced some of the calculations for the revamped space program..."

 _WARNING! WARNING!_

Rill missed a step as the signal blared out in her mind loud and clear. A directionless, but nonetheless distinct and very present threat.

"I'm afraid I cannot help you." She apologized as sincerely as she could. "I have very little to do with the space program." The Cetra made tracks away from him as quickly as she could without seeming too suspicious.

 _Zack._ Out on patrol. _Cloud._ Not enough of a deterrent. _Sephiroth..._ Still up in his office with no way of explaining why she felt this way. _Reno._ No idea where he was.

Panic fluttered in the corners of Rill's mind as she exited the building, her Tremorsense materia letting her know that someone was following her. _DANGER! DANGER!_

Her best bet would be to lead them to an area where she could count on support or protection. She was all but guaranteed that there would be Turks at home but-

 _No way in hell am I leading them back to Aeris._

 _I'll contact Tseng._ Her fellow Cetra said promptly. _Stay safe, Rill..._

The secretary swallowed, sensing that about three men were following her and it was from them that this warning blared.

 _I'll try..._

She managed twenty minutes.

Rill's heart raced as she pulled out her phone, inputting a code to put it in lockdown and start off a distress signal. She blessed the Turks' paranoid generosity that had given her access to this emergency function. The phone would likely be discarded or broken to keep anyone from tracking her with it's GPS, but the message would still have been sent.

There was no shout or spoken command. Rill just felt her pursuer's start to run, sensed their intent as the Planet's warnings flared into crystal certainty.

Her first instinct was to fight. But she knew that that was wrong. She was being told in no uncertain terms to not resist. She would die if she tried. She couldn't quite hold back the short cry of terror that forced its way out of her control. A rough hand clasped over her mouth and something struck the back of her neck.

Rill didn't remember anything else.

* * *

He'd already been looking for her. Vice Bossman had said something about getting a tip-off that Rill thought someone was stalking her. But Reno's casual shamble towards Rill's apartment changed abruptly when Rill's phone's emergency function lit up on their tracking system. The redhead was cursing a blue streak as he bolted, using the fastest possible route down to Rill's last known location. Everyone else would have gotten the same message, they'd be moving as well-

 _But it wasn't their job to protect her, moron!_

Rill was an invaluable asset to the company and for all that she was friends with several of their number, see also all of them, it had been a cold and calculating end that had made Veld assign Nerilka Thomas a personal guard.

" _Most of the cohesive production hinges on her and the moral of the army depends on her safety and presence."_ Yeah, Rill had become pretty damn near indispensable to Shinra. Reno had been given this job of being her bodyguard because he was already friendly enough with her for it not to be that unusual if he hung around her a little more often. Within the city, he hadn't thought that his presence was constantly needed since Genesis had fled and all but disappeared. Rill was a slum kid, just like him. She could handle the roughest parts below the Plate and he suspected that she functionally ruled at least one Sector.

 _Stupid mistake._ Reno growled as he darted through the alleys. _Never assume your principle is safe in a state of ceasefire._ Rill had activated the distress signal barely ten minutes away from the Shinra building. And from what he could see, she was taking as public and random a route as she could. _Being pursued and she knows it._ Of course RIll had known. She was freaking psychic!

What had made her light it up though? No one had spotted Genesis and Rill would have had the sense to send out the alert as soon as she recognized him-

 _Emotional attachment._ No...No Rill wouldn't feel threatened by Genesis. She'd probably tear him a new one for being stupid and in the process end up kissing him or whatever weird crap girls in love did. _Lucky bastard._ He squashed the thought. Rill was smarter than that. She didn't let her feelings rule her. It was what made her so effective. _Focus, damnit! It isn't Genesis! He'd be more flashy about this._

The next primary suspect would be AVALANCHE. If they had the first clue about how critical Rill was to SOLDIER...

 _They could demand just about anything. The Pres knows he can't just cut her loose. He'd lose the entire army if he did! And Seph-_ That was a bloody terrifying thought.

Sephiroth was gonna flip his lid when he heard about this. The words 'unholy terror' couldn't even begin to describe what he would turn into...

Reno pumped his legs, forcing them to go faster and faster. Rill's signal was bright and steady, still moving and hadn't stopped it's public area pattern. When it flickered and began to pulse, her phone would have been compromised. When it stopped moving, it had been disposed of. When it was brought into a secluded area, it was safe to say that she had been captured.

The light didn't stop moving, it just went out altogether.

Reno cursed anew.

It had to be AVALANCHE. No other resistance group had access to the right level of tech to shut down one of their PHS tracking devices like that.

He flicked on his earpiece at the first beep, signalling that Veld was coordinating personally.

" _Spiral out in standard extended search pattern. We detected a magic surge that indicate the use of an Exit materia."_ Reno barely managed to not cuss some more. The damn things were valuable and extremely rare. If the terrorist rats had gotten their mitts on one, it made their job a whole lot more difficult.

"They can't have gone very far, yo." Reno ground out. "It takes a ton of juice to use one of the damn things without screwing around with where you end up, let alone a passenger."

" _You're operating under the assumption that Miss Thomas is still alive."_

"She is." Reno hissed back. "If they're making this move now, it's cause they want her! 'Cause of what she might know or 'cause of who she is." Sephiroth and the army within the company. Genesis without. Just in connections, Rill was a goldmine for ransom demands. "Either way, she's no good to them dead!" He didn't care at the moment that he had blatantly contradicted Veld in front of the entire department. Then again, people rarely ever did. Reno had been promoted to his current position, young as he was, because he was good at his job.

 _And he would never be able to stand looking in a mirror again if he let his friend die without trying to save her._

" _...Your statement has been noted, Sinclair."_ The connection went dark and Reno was left to run, tearing desperately through every scrap of information he had that might lead him to where Rill was being held.

AVALANCHE wouldn't stay inside the city with their prize. It was too close and too exposed for a group of their number. They'd want her somewhere where they could transport her easily to a bunker beyond Shinra's immediate control.

 _One of the shipping gates. High traffic to avoid drawing attention to one unusual package, secluded enough to not be inspected constantly._ Sector 3 was his best best. It had a good amount of shipping going on, containing a significant amount of the suburbs and civilian dwellings in the entire city, requiring a large amount of food being brought in constantly. That and it was the closest exit to where Rill's signal had vanished. There would be hell to pay if Rill wasn't alive when he got his hands on who was to blame for this.

* * *

Rill woke up abruptly, sensing the faintest traces of foreign magic withdrawing from her system after rousing her. She was bound and restrained, and there was a blindfold over her eyes and something pricking her arm. Caught, helpless. Fear clawed at her reason.

 _Don't you dare!_ Aeris's voice cut through her turmoil. _You lose your head, you lose your only weapon. Stay calm and think. What do you still have?_

The chastisement, in precisely the same tone that Elmyra used on them whenever they had been working mischief, calmed Rill enough to let her think.

Her bag was gone, likely disposed of instead of taking it along and risking the chance of a tracking device. _It's not information they want then. It's my connections._ Meaning they needed her alive. This wasn't especially comforting since AVALANCHE didn't have many compunctions about who or what they damaged in their crusade. There was someone up high in their ranks who didn't care about civilian casualties if past experience showed any kind of pattern.

But it was a start. It gave her a line that she could toe in her stalling for time as she prayed for rescue.

 _I've told Tseng. He's already looking._ That was a weight off of her shoulders. There was a chance of her getting out of this alive and intact. What else did she have?

By some miracle, Sephiroth's gift was still on her arm.

 _Using any kind of magic when you can't see is not smart at all. For another thing, as far as they can tell, unless they've tried to remove the 'gemstones', it's a pretty bracelet._ Line of sight was critical for most any basic magic user, not to mention some kind of movement. She had neither. But she also wasn't a basic magic user. That and people had a certain concept of what materia bangles should look like. The delicate, flexible decoration that Sephiroth had given to her didn't fit that mold. It had been what touched her the most about it, that he had gone out of his way to get her such a unique gift.

So, until she knew more about the situation and saw an opportunity, no obvious magic.

Rill shifted her feet, then started putting a tiny trickle of energy into Tremorsense.

Her awareness of the room increased exponentially and this eased her fear somewhat as soon as she had some information to process.

There were three different people in the room. One was standing before her, two were off to the side with line of sight. There was a slightly shifting of gloved hands on metal.

 _One interrogator, standing to bring sense of power over the hostage. Two with drawn weapons in case of trouble from the hostage._

"Nerilka Thomas, secretary of SOLDIER, employee of Shinra." The man in front of her spoke. She didn't respond. They already knew who she was. Why bother giving them the confirmation.

"Answer him." Came a rough command from off to the side. Her sharpened hearing detected an electronic hum, and the faint sound of feedback over a microphone. _Someone using a body double to perform the interrogation from a distance over a live feed and with a camera._

"I wasn't aware this was to be a conversation." She replied cooly. She expected the hit and she got it. The man who had demanded she answer had stepped forward and seized on of her hands, which suddenly felt a lot more frail and delicate. She could feel her bones creak against one another as he twisted, then squeezed...

 _They know what they're doing or they have good sense. Hitting anywhere on the head runs the risk of damaging the captive's brain, reducing it's value._

"No backtalk." The pressure on her hand increased, then vanished.

"So long as you cooperate, you will not be harmed." _Should have opened with that._ Rill revised her opinion on whoever was running this but kept silent. She still hadn't heard anything about why she was here or what they wanted. They were expecting her to ask, so she doubted she would get an honest answer.

This interrogation felt like a charade. The Planet said loud and clear that it was in fact. It wasn't her mind they wanted, she had already concluded that. She was a hostage and would probably be put up for ransom. And she wished that that infernal itching on her arm would go away!

 _Itching?_

She focused her hearing, even going so far as to flex slightly to try and determine what had been strapped to her. Something mechanical. Now that she was seeking it, she could feel the hum of electricity just away from her skin. And it didn't have the faint buzzing sound of the camera or the microphone. _Bomb? No, they wouldn't bother with the questions if they wanted me dead. Lie detector? That's more likely._

"How long have you worked for Shinra?" _Definitely a lie detector._ They would start with a few basic questions to establish an honesty baseline, going with answers that they already knew.

Rill inhaled, reaching out and seeking for support. Aeris was with her almost instantly. Whatever they wanted to know from her, Rill didn't think that AVALANCHE knowing would be a good idea. Not when they had shown themselves to be destructive anarchists. She had to keep her heart rate and pulse even...

 _Your tremorsense materia._ Aeris suggested.

It was a possibility. She hadn't done much with it beyond the initial ability that had manifested... _Can't do anything but try right now._

Rill centered herself, drawing on the serenity of the Planet to stabilize her as she focused intensely on her own heartbeat and pulse. The information that they would interpret to determine whether or not she was being truthful. Her initial wake up and the delay between her awakening and the first question was likely to get her to panic to see what they would be looking for when she lied. So her only other option was to remain as calm and level as possible, with maybe throwing in the occasional elevated patch to mess with their data.

Rill cautiously answered the questions she was asked. She had worked for Shinra for going on a year. She had been a secretary the entire time until she was transferred to her current department. She had no combat training. She had been raised in Midgar but wasn't born there. There was no hum of someone talking through a speaker. The real questions hadn't begun yet.

 _This is it._ Aeris warned, sensing the end of the testing questions. Rill heard a low buzz of an unfamiliar voice through the speaker of a small device that the man interrogating her was wearing. No one else was meant to hear it.

"Would you consider yourself friendly with the 1st Class of SOLDIER?" _Oh no..._ Rill kept her face smooth and closed with the same wary fear that she had been letting show.

"I work with them more closely than the lower ranks." Reasonable answer given that most of the administrative officers were 1st Class.

"A direct answer. Yes or no."

"No." Her heart rate was holding steady...

"You've often been seen in the company of on SOLDIER Fair. Not even him?" _Question from the prompter._

"No. I'm his babysitter." There came a brief pause, then she heard the distant, actual interrogator speak again.

"What was your involvement in the mass desertion from SOLDIER?" That AVALANCHE had found this out was unsurprising. Bad news, but unsurprising. Rill couldn't stop a bitter smile from forming under her blindfold.

"I organized it. Or rather the advance of troops into central Wutai. Without knowing what I was doing or what was planned, they slid everything right past me." The buzz came again...

 _Brace yourself._ Aeris warned.

"What was your relationship with Genesis Rhapsodos?" Rill felt more indignant than worried at first. She got enough crap in her day to day life because of the over dramatic poetry fanatic. _Now AVALANCHE has to gossip about this as well?! That's just not fair!_ Then she started thinking at lightning speed.

They knew about the desertion, and Genesis' attack. And they knew, or suspected, that she had been connected to him somehow. Something closer than a working relationship.

 _They don't want to ransom me to Shinra, they want to use me to ensure Genesis' cooperation!_ This was a more serious security breach than she had anticipated. Sure, everyone had speculated, but for this to be warranted...They had to have gotten some kind of alternate information. Who was asking these questions anyway?

"Strictly professional." Heart rate steady, only slightly elevated, but she couldn't do more about than expect try and stay calm to keep it from getting any worse.

There came another buzz, the men on either side of her shifted their hold on their guns, then a small click sounded along with a long silence...

A strangely long silence. What was going on on the other side of that microphone?

"' _The goddess descends from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar'..."_ Rill thought for sure her heart should have stopped at hearing that voice again after so long.

... _Goddess damnit, Genesis._


	20. The Black Demon

They hadn't been lying after all. They really did have Rill captive.

Genesis wanted to grind his teeth, blow up and burn something down to ashes. That disgusting Hojo ripoff hadn't been bluffing in his message. _Fuhito..._ The man would burn for this. For daring to send someone after Rill.

 _He didn't protect her._ The familiar bitterness had started to become comforting as he felt it swamp him. He had left Rill in Sephiroth's oh so competent care and this was what it had gotten him.

He had listened to the interrogation, put up with her being hurt to prove a point, tolerated seeing her pale and frightened. But still cool and calm. Rill's composure was shining through here. He could see the readouts from the lie detector. Her voice was calm and level and washed over him like a soothing balm...

Genesis was all too aware of the high powered guns being aimed at Rill's head if he spoke. So he kept his silence and endured the torture.

Then he was brought up. And in spite of himself, and her current situation, Genesis felt some hope that she would show a reaction...

" _Strictly professional."_ There was only a slight variation on the readout, nothing telling. Still, it felt like Genesis had been run through with his own sword. And that a hand was squeezing his throat until no sound could hope to escape. He was aware of several eyes watching him.

The safest thing for Rill would be to have them believe her story. They would have no reason to hold her hostage.

 _They also wouldn't have any reason to keep her alive._ If Rill died, Genesis didn't care if it destroyed him, he would slaughter every single man and woman who were affiliated with AVALANCHE.

"Is that true?" The bespectacled man inquired. Fuhito reminded Genesis of Hojo in all the wrong ways. There was a cold, fragile politeness in which he spoke, the same way a cat might address a mouse before it began to eat.

Genesis remained silent and expressionless.

" _I have no interest in joining forces with you." Genesis told Fuhito with a sneer. His shoulder was hurting him again and Hollander's response to this standoff was rubbing him in all the wrong places. Regardless of his SOLDIERs superior abilities, the number of troops that Fuhito had brought were not something to be trifled with._

 _AVALANCHE troops stood on one side with Genesis and his army on the other. He had long since established that Hollander's purpose was to cure him of his degradation and carrying out command was to be left to him._

" _We share a common enemy, Commander." A leader of the terrorist group said with a polite smile. "We both wish to see Shinra's corruption done away with and stand a much better chance if we stand together."_

" _Meaning you get to get a recruitment bump when you publicize that you've gotten me to join you." He wanted to be a hero and to most, AVALANCHE was anything but. Their civilian casualty count disgusted him and had horrified Rill..._

 _He most certainly couldn't face her if he became a villain of this nature._

" _I see. You are quite sure this wouldn't change your mind...?" A picture was carelessly tossed before him. Genesis caught a glimpse of Rill, dressed in a Wutian kimono of blue and white with her hair long and loose, and her glasses nowhere to be seen._

 _Not even his dreams could have devised a more spectacular picture. It took every ounce of effort he had to not snatch the picture up and hoard it away. His last photo of her had met it's end at the hands of some bumbling clones. Hollander had tried to scold him about wasting resources when he killed the one responsible and about a dozen more, but Genesis hadn't been interested in listening to reason._

" _What of the woman?" He asked coldly. The front of callousness was necessary. Any attention from AVALANCHE would be bad news for Rill._

" _Really? Here I had hoped we might...come to an agreement." The man sounded genuinely regretful as he frowned in polite concern. "My men will have to dispose of her. She is far too valuable to Shinra to keep her alive." Genesis scoffed, concealing the rising current of mindless rage that he felt._

" _And you call Shinra murderers." This soulless bastard would die in fire and ice for this._

" _She is still alive." Fuhito protested innocuously. "Do you require assurance? We have a line set up."_

Genesis had agreed. And here found himself in a position where he could not help but reveal that he knew Rill.

"What do you want?" He asked Fuhito, hand itching to draw his sword and fly to her side. The healing that had woken her hadn't been able to erase a thin trickle of blood that matted part of her brown hair into something dark and black. And some of the bruising was still visible on her arms.

"An agreement." Fuhito said pleasantly. "Your support for our cause. In exchange, her life." There wasn't any guilt or remorse in his tone. Snuffing out Rill's life truly meant nothing to him. Less than wiping dust off a countertop.

Genesis saw red for a split second. His hand flexed as he unconsciously called on his materia.

"Now then, Commander, there's no need for this to get messy for her." The men with loaded firearms lifted their weapons, nozzles focused on Rill's head.

The threat chained him. Held him down like a noose. Part of him raged against the power that she had over him when she had refused him. That Rill would dare exercise this kind of influence over him without returning his feelings...

"The goddess and all the pantheon as my witness..." Genesis said in a soft, but dangerous voice. He knew that he sounded a little unhinged. Flirting on the edge of sanity. "If those weapons do not point somewhere else, immediately...none of you will leave this hovel alive..." It was as good as an admission, but he took some gratification in the fact that even the semi intelligent brutes that Fuhito had somehow manufactured, slap shod mimics of SOLDIER, showed some trepidation at the threat.

The mastermind himself didn't look fazed by the threat, he simply spoke into his microphone.

"Activate the speaker." Genesis shot him a look and was rewarded with a smile that he wanted dearly to carve into his throat. "I understand it has been quite some time since you last spoke to your beloved. Please, say whatever you wish."

All his attention went back to Rill then, seated in a chair, hands tied and eyes bound. _Would they flash with surprise if she could see him?_

"The goddess descends from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar' _..._ " Genesis felt his heart started to beat a little more strongly when her head came up ever so slightly and her lips parted in soundless surprise.

Yet despite all this, there was only a split seconds deviation in her pulse on the machine that was linked to her. One jolt of surprise and genuine sentiment that he seized greedily and held inside his heart.

 _Say my name..._ he begged her silently. _Call to me Rill. I will come to your side in an instant. Only say my name..._

But the stubborn contrite woman said not a word more. No doubt too conscious and threatened to do so. _Unacceptable._ There came the sound of fighting outside. The clones had broken composure and were, from the sound of it, decimating the handful of AVALANCHE troops that Fuhito had brought with him.

"Have your men leave the room." Genesis ordered the bespectacled man even as he tensed to glance at the door of the hidden bunker he had brought him into.

"You are not-" Genesis's hand whipped out and seized Fuhito's scrawny neck. He was tired of waiting. For the first time in months he had the chance to speak to Rill without the chance of Shinra overhearing. He was not about to let the delusions of a lunatic get in his way.

"Am I not in charge?" He asked, looking at him without a shred of mercy. "You threaten the woman I love in attempt to sway me to join your side, yet you let me come within arm's reach of you?" An oversight on his part, but one that Genesis was somehow not surprised by. Fuhito was like Hojo. Genesis had heard that he admired the inhuman creature for his scientific prowess and ruthless ambition. He would use whatever weakness or vulnerability that he could get his hands on without a hint of remorse. But both of them would tend to underestimate the reprisal that committing such an act would invite.

Fuhito's eyes bulged out of his sockets, but he opened his mouth to speak. Genesis channeled an Ice materia, creating claws at his fingertips that were poised to rip out his prey's throat. He gave an unpleasant smile at the man, and placed a finger over his lips, sounding friendly and definitely condescending.

"I'd stay silent until your mind catches up with the latest development..." He turned his attention to the men he could see on the monitor and addressed them.

"All three of you surrounding my Rill, place your weapons on the floor. I have your superior by the throat and have overthrown your outpost in this location."

Rill was tense as a harpstring in her chair, but she wasn't crying or demanding he stop out of fear. He felt strangely proud at the sight. _My fearless love, I won't be a moment longer..._

This standoff wouldn't have lasted for much longer, he increased the length of his icy claws fraction by fraction to dig deeper and deeper into Fuhito's neck. It wouldn't be much longer before he found the vocal chords or an artery...

"Do...as he says..." Fuhito ground out, his composure fracturing into cold hatred as he glowered at Genesis.

"Remove her blindfold and unbind her." He wanted to see her face and he would not abide her being imprisoned for one moment longer

He was obeyed. Soon Rill's azure colored eyes were flicking around the room with wary caution.

"Take off the communications device and leave the room." There was a beat of hesitation and Genesis flexed his grip. Fuhito bared his teeth, neck tense and bleeding in his grasp .

"Do as he says...!" It was regretful that he had to be here to listen to their first conversation since his departure. But beggar's couldn't be choosers.

"Can you see me Rill?" Genesis was keenly aware of the change his voice had undergone, going from hard and commanding to something much softer and gentler.

" _...No."_ She replied, looking around the room that she now was now the sole occupant of, she pulled off the patches and wires that connected her to the lie detector. " _Just audio on this end."_

"Do you know where you are?" He couldn't very well leave her there. Or in the city. She wasn't safe even there. So long as he retained a hold on Fuhito, Rill wouldn't be touched by AVALANCHE.

" _I would assume I'm still in Midgar."_ She replied cooly, the false identity that Rill relied on for emotional protection coming into being. Genesis frowned. That wasn't...that wasn't right. Rill had only ever treated him with this bland passiveness when they were still at odds. Was it the fact that they were being observed by his captive? Either way, some time together would mend the rift that he had torn between them.

"I will come and retrieve you shortly-" Her head whipped around and there was fire burning in her gaze as she looked right at the camera.

" _And then what?"_ She demanded, hard and unyielding. The fire was good, it melted away her frosty exterior, but her anger was...painful. It had never been turned on him before now.

"Rill, I-" He had a split seconds' warning. So did she apparently. Rill sprang back towards the wall, her hands coming up in a flash of blue light as several thick barriers of snow appeared between her and the far wall. Then came an intense explosion that blew in one of the walls of the room Rill was in, followed by another smaller blast inside the room. Her image disappeared in a shower of plaster, insulation and flash melted snow as her shields were blown away and the camera was knocked to the floor. "Rill!" Once the room's seal was broken, Genesis heard the sounds of utter carnage.

Magic tearing through the air, the clang of weapons, the screams of wounded, and the heavy, wet thuds of corpses hitting the ground. A battlefield had formed around Rill's prison. Likely a Shinra rescue party from the Turks.

The screen cleared of debris to reveal Rill, on the ground where the blast had thrown her, at least partially dazed. A myriad of small scratches adorned her arms where she had thrown them up to protect her face, and already bruises were forming on her pale skin. Her coughs tore holes through him like bullets, white plaster dust coating her skin and hair and the snow having been thrown all over the room and melted in some places. He could see red imposed on the white that surrounded her. She shook herself slightly and crawled to take shelter behind some of the larger pieces of debris, staggering as she moved. Her equilibrium had been destroyed by the close range blast, no matter how small. She made it out of his line of sight and under cover though. Injured, but alive.

 _She's alive._ Something in Genesis relaxed at the conclusion. _Those cursed fools almost killed her in their rescue attempt._

"Quite fortunate she moved..." Fuhito said in a tight voice, the sound still somewhat strangled by Genesis' hand. "Otherwise the emergency trace disposal charge would have caught her up as well."

 _Emergency disposal. To remove all trace from the room._ _Planted in the approximate center of the room. Right over where Rill was sitting._

Genesis had his sword in his hand before he was consciously thinking. Fury boiled inside him, his wing burst free from his back.

It had been placed to remove all signs that Rill had been present in the room. But it could have happened after she was moved, or been intended as a way to kill her.

He was about to remove the blight on the world that was this piece of loathsome scum when a sound caught his attention...

A sound Genesis had become intimately familiar with over the course of his fighting experience and a sound he didn't think it was possible to despise more than he did now.

Masamune's long, supernaturally keen blade was the first thing he saw, the end stained red. _In the close corridors of the building, Sephiroth would have to resort to stabbing and controlled bursts of magic._ Whatever anger Genesis felt at Fuhito was swallowed up in the all encompassing wrath that he felt towards Sephiroth as he tossed debris aside to reveal the barely conscious and injured girl.

He couldn't hear anything through the sound of his own pulse. He just watched, frozen as Sephiroth picked Rill up, letting Masamune fall to the floor. _Masamune. He treats that sword almost as if it were his child._

" _Sephiroth..."_ The single word, the name, cut through the white noise. Genesis had heard it perfectly...

A green materia in the Silver General's armlet lit up as he healed her. Her eyes came back into focus and she looked up at him...then relaxed, slumping into his arms with obvious relief.

 _She wasn't even fully conscious and she recognized him._ The camera finally gave up the ghost and the screen and audio was soon filled with nothing but static.

 _Always the hero..._ Genesis wanted to rage, scream and destroy something to get rid of the hatred he was feeling.

 _Fine...be a hero then..._

 _I don't care._

 _Just let me have her._

 _But you can't even do that, can you?_

 _-_ **vVv** _-_

Rill's head was fuzzy.

Her ears were ringing badly. _Have to find some way to keep from going deaf every time something big like that goes down..._ At least she had gotten a flash of warning and had been able to cut off using her Tremorsense so she didn't go deaf like last time.

 _Thanks for the intervention._ She thought to Aeris as she slumped behind some meager cover. _I'd have just thrown up some ice..._ And would probably have been sliced apart by the shrapnel of her own shields instead of just being cold and wet from melted snow. _Goddess I'm cold..._

 _Blood loss and the sudden magic use._ Aeris sounded fretful and anxious. _Rill, do you have enough magic left to heal yourself just so you don't pass out? If you go into shock now-_

' _M trying._ Rill felt as if her head were splitting open. Even without the superfine hearing from her materia, she had been too close to both of those explosions. Passing out was a bad idea, but thinking was kinda hard...

Then she heard the Planet hum, relief and safety in it's tone. Someone was lifting her, holding her. _Who...?_

 _Who do you think?_ Aeris asked dryly.

"Sephiroth..."

"You're safe, Rill. It's alright...I've got you." Her mind cleared as healing magic raced through her. _I think I'm going to be ok to pass out now, right?_ Sephiroth adjusted her in his grasp, carrying her in one arm as he retrieved Masamune from where he had let it fall. Rill didn't resist. Didn't even try to get up. She felt so...drained. Like she could sleep for a century and call it a power nap.

 _Stay awake, dummy! Do you want to freak him out even more?_ Aeris' incredulous demand made Rill look around as Sephiroth exited the room. And she instantly regretted that she had.

She had been in the attack in the city all those months ago...but she hadn't been this close.

Her weak stomach roiled as the smell of burnt flesh and scorched blood filled the air. Her eyes stared at the destruction, horrified.

"What-?"

"Close your eyes." Sephiroth instructed her, holding her closer. "Focus on my breathing. Match yours to it. In through your nose, out through your mouth." She did as his said, trying to chant to herself that it was little more than a bad dream.

A dream where she could hear and smell.

A dream where the images of death were emblazoned on the insides of her eyelids. Unforgettable and everpresent.

"But I still see them..." She whispered, feeling herself start to shake. She was going into shock. If she had been on her feet, she probably would have collapsed she was feeling so faint... "They're still there..."

"The church, Rill. Think about your and Aeris' church." Sephiroth's voice was all she could really hear. And it sounded...understanding, and regretful. _He's been through this before._

"What happened?" Rill asked anyway as she pictured the pristine white lilies that Zack had sent her on Valentine's Day. She had planted them in her window box and Zack looked like a strutting peacock whenever he caught sight of them. _Ask questions, keep him talking. Stay awake._

"AVALANCHE attacked HQ about fifteen minutes after you sent out your distress signal. You've been missing for less than an hour. I found where they were keeping you, but they detonated several explosives to try and bring the building down before I could engage." Only now that she was listening did Rill hear the tension vibrating through his voice. Only once she started thinking did she notice that the arm that was holding her was trembling slightly.

 _Sephiroth doesn't tremble..._

"Were you injured?" She asked. It was the only reasonable explanation she could think of. Though him being hurt in combat at all was a bit...unusual.

Sephiroth snorted.

"I was not." It sounded like a loaded statement.

 _Rill. Recall how many of those men died in the blast, and how many had sword wounds..._ She hadn't counted, but there had seemed to be about twenty altogether...

"How did you find me?"

"I tracked down one of AVALANCHE's agents. He wasn't that helpful. He lead me to two other places like this before I found you." The slight annoyance that Rill heard in his voice terrified her.

Sephiroth thought little more of those other bases than nuisances because they hadn't been where she was being held. And to find three of them in under an hour...

A loud crash made her eyes flash open only to see as Sephiroth effortlessly dispatched a group of at least half a dozen of guard hounds that raced out of an alley. They were closely followed by a few men in dark, unfamiliar uniforms. And from the unearthly screams that they let out...Rill couldn't tell which group was more animalistic.

The men's visible mouths were bared in rictus snarls and they seemed more inclined to shrieking and roaring than trying to speak. The savage way they threw themselves at Sephiroth made her shrink back into her protector's grasp.

Being charged by beasts in human form didn't do more than make Sephiroth grunt in irritation.

Masamune sang. In two strokes, all five men lay dead or dying before Rill's horrified eyes.

"Keep your eyes closed. Trust me. I won't let you be harmed." Rill hurriedly sealed her eyes, trying to erase the gore spattered images from her memory.

Her fear of being hurt wasn't what was making her tremble.

 _He...I knew he could kill easily. But..._ Suddenly all those looks that she got from people made a little more sense. Her casual, calm manner, the way she almost teased him...

Rill had...somehow forgotten, if she had ever truly known before now, that Sephiroth was in fact very, very dangerous, and feared the world over for good reason.

The thought of killing as easily as he did made her quail and feel nauseous. _It isn't right..._

 _Rumors have already reached down here that the Black Demon was tearing through the whole city looking for someone._ Aeris informed her cousin softly. _I wasn't kidding when I said he was freaking out. The Planet says she's never felt him be that afraid or that angry before._

Fear and anger.

The same things she had heard from-

 _Genesis! Genesis was talking to AVALANCHE!_ She had all but forgotten that she had been speaking to him before the room blew up.

Rill wished she hadn't remembered right then because it was hard enough not to start crying onto Sephiroth's leather coat as it was. _Goddess damn you...Damn you to the Abyss and back, Genesis...Every time I think I've gotten ahold of myself, something like this happens..._ Rill had been so sure that talking to Angeal had gotten her past this. That she could be over Genesis and not hurt like this anymore. But she still felt like she was being torn asunder.

 _You know..._ Aeris mused in a very soft voice. _I didn't think that falling in love was supposed to hurt that much..._

 _I don't think it is. I'm just messed up._ Rill replied, letting her eyes close and her mind blot out the noise around her.

 _There is nothing wrong with you or your feelings, Rill! Never think that this was a mistake! Do I need to have Angeal give his talk to you again?_

Angeal?

 _He's still there?!_

 _You expect him to leave when there are armed men storming through the slums and shooting at women and children? The whole slum knows about him by now. They won't say anything though. He ditched his uniform before he went out to fight and didn't use a sword._

 _But his eyes! His strength!_

 _I think people here are going to be too grateful that he stopped a group of terrorists from blowing out part of the upper Plate to bother with that. The corporation will be curious, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it._

Rill couldn't believe the scale of this attack.

Not only had AVALANCHE tried to seize her to use as leverage over Genesis to get him to work with/for them, there was also a direct assault on the Shinra building and a sabotage team attacking the framework of midgar. Hundreds of thousands of people would have died had the last maneuver been successful, both from the falling rubble from above and the long drop for those atop it...

 _This will mean war again...This time with AVALANCHE._ The public outrage would rock the whole world. Shinra had to call out their troops in force against AVALANCHE or lose face and support from the other parts of the world. It was a colossal empire, but even the convenience of easy electricity wouldn't stand up to this kind of fear. Once, Genesis's attack, was coincidence. But this made twice that combat had been waged inside the city of Midgar. If Shinra couldn't defend their central city, what hope or faith should be put in the outlying stations?

 _Brilliant, more fighting..._ Maybe Angeal had the right idea about leaving...Getting out of the spotlight, and the front line and finding somewhere where the sword wasn't necessary to survive.

But no sooner was the thought formed than Rill felt the Planet tug on her awareness, reminding her of just who was carting her around the city and killing any that came at him.

No...No that was right. She couldn't leave him...

Sephiroth had already lost his two oldest friends. And if Angeal's assessment was even remotely accurate, then Sephiroth considered her to be more akin to family.

A fleck of something hot and wet splattered onto Rill's face, burning like acid and she flinched.

She would stay in this bloody fight for as long as she could.

Sephiroth had rampaged through the city to find her, leaving a trail of death in his wake when he had feared for her life. She could feel his desperation and fear in his grip. He was competent in almost any circumstance, but he could be backed into a corner. It just wouldn't be a battle he could win with Masamune.

A fight that could bring Sephiroth to the edge and over it was one that hinged on his emotions. What he valued most in the world. Then he would be desperate...just like he had been to find her now.

 _Never underestimate desperate people. You don't know how far they'll go to get what they want. And when a man this powerful becomes truly desperate, the world will tremble..._


	21. Cleanup

If Sephiroth had been clingy about Rill before after Genesis' attack, AVALANCHE had turned him into a needy toddler. With a six foot sword, superhuman strength, and powerful magical abilities.

 _This...might be problematic._ He concluded after he almost skewered the doctor who was inspecting Rill's injuries. He was still twitchy as hell. Most of the fighting had died down, the AVALANCHE members either killed or captured and disarmed. Just clean up, accounting for the dead and wounded and an after-action report.

"You reached her quickly enough after her ears were damaged so she won't need any corrective surgery." The man informed him, not even aware how close he had come to dying just for being too close to Rill. "Just plenty of rest and she'll be fine within a few days." Rill hadn't said much on the way back to the Shinra lines. But her gaze was still lucid and clear and she responded concisely when spoken to. She wasn't in shock, her mind was just occupied with something else. If it kept her from being afraid of him, he would take it.

Sephiroth, now that he was thinking a little more rationally, was regretting needing to show Rill just how ruthless he was in on the battlefield. When he fought, everything else just seemed to fade away. He had his purpose, and nothing else mattered. In this case, his purpose had been to get Rill to safety and he hadn't thought of much else until that objective was secured.

 _I'm sorry Rill. I didn't mean to scare you..._ If he thought it would make things better, he would keep holding onto her. But he had noticed, however distantly, the various negative signs she had shown in response to the stimuli of a combat situation. Elevated heart rate, strained breathing, trembling.

He hoped he hadn't traumatized one of his few remaining friends...

 _What if she becomes frightened of me?_ What would that change? Would she still trust him around her family? Would she be the same around him or would she stop meeting his gaze? _Like most everyone else does...?_

The thoughts stampeding around in his head gave his stillness no rest. The anxious, nervous fear that he had felt upon hearing that she was missing, and all throughout his hunt, was back and somehow even stronger and worse than before.

The thought of Rill being hurt was terrible and tore at his insides as if a wildcat had been released inside his ribs. But the thought of her fearing him was somehow a thousand times worse. Instead of a cat, that was a dragon, breathing fire, acid and lighting all at once.

What should he say? If he said anything, would it make it better or worse?

She looked small, alone and fragile, sitting as the medics worked over her, mending every cut and bruise. Her eyes were distant. They'd never looked more like a night sky than they did then. An eternity away and flecked with shimmering-

A new concern rose.

Rill was fighting back tears.

He had only ever seen her cry once before, and knew he did not want to see it on her again.

"-eneral?" He forced himself to pay attention to the man addressing him. _Lieutenant Cobbs. 2nd Class._

"Contact a Turk to take her home, with a guard." He couldn't afford to show more attachment. Sending her away would help him focus, but would also make him more twitchy. Right now it was a necessary sacrifice.

"Yessir." Cobbs threw out a salute before walking away swiftly. _He's running scared._ Sephiroth concluded with a bit of a resigned air. It would take months if not longer for everyone to get over this display of his unbridled prowess. And the journalists would start creeping out of the woodwork to try and determine what had made him so intent on retrieving her. And if he told them, they would automatically turn on her. Being questioned by the plebeian jackals when she was already in such a state. _Unacceptable._ _The insufferable fools wouldn't leave her alone for months._ He thought, irritated already. _She's already distraught, they don't need to make things worse._

Sephiroth deliberately tried not to focus on Rill. It made it marginally easier to not stab anyone who came too close that he didn't instantly recognize. An exhausted looking Reno eventually came forward.

"How much caffeine are you on right now?" Sephiroth asked him, running an eye over the disheveled Turk. He had come across Reno interrogating the man who had been able to lead him to Rill. As soon as he had the information, he easily outdistanced the Turk in his haste to make her **safe** again. In a remarkable show of insight and trust, Reno had gone to help with the crowd control instead of following.

"I'm not that out of it." He replied grimacing. "I'm dog tired, not dead beat."

"I fail to see a difference." Sephiroth retorted, then in a slightly softer tone after verifying at a glance that no one was around who could overhear. "Take Rill to her aunt's." Reno's eyes flashed with understanding and he yawned.

"You got it, general." He sauntered over to Rill, stripping off his suit jacket and laying it around her shoulders. "Up and at'em, princess. Let's get you home..."

"Wait." She said softly, standing straight and steady, the black jacket still on her shoulders. She walked over to Sephiroth, meeting his gaze with grave blue eyes...

Then she hugged him, brief and simple. She was still trembling slightly. He read the telltale signs of fear in her movements and in the tension in her posture that hadn't been there before. _She is afraid..._ Sephiroth hadn't been injured, but he suddenly felt as though he couldn't draw breath. Disappointment rang in his mind as well as regret. _I only wanted to rescue you before you got hurt-_

"You come down as soon as you can." She whispered softly, the words meant for his ears alone. "Auntie's going to be worried about you too." _I already am worried about you._

"I'm unharmed." He wasn't likely to be injured anymore either considering that the attack had been repelled. Her arms tightened, feeling weak and frail compared to the unnatural strength that coursed through Sephiroth's veins.

"The fight's over, Sephiroth. Put the General away." _Oh._ _Right..._ Sephiroth felt his muscles relax from their ready position. He was no longer poised to start fighting again at a moment's notice. He hugged her back, being even more careful than usual considering she had been recently healed.

Yes, Rill was afraid. She could not forget what she had seen and it might be some time before she could behave as he was used to. But she wasn't willing to let that fear stop her from caring for him as she had before.

That... was even more of a relief than he had expected.

-vVv-

Rill got the full scoop on how much damage was done as she took an indefinite vacation from work. Despite her being physically fine, she was slightly traumatized and agreed that before returning to work with it's chaos that she should be completely under control and back to full capacity.

Not that Sephiroth intended on letting her come back to work in the building without his personal supervision. She was torn between being touched at his protectiveness and slightly terrified at how far he was willing to go. And this was still him being reasonable!

"He only wants to make sure you're safe." Aeris soothed. "I have to imagine you're one of the most important people in his life right now."

"It's still..." Rill didn't know what to call it. Sweet? Not at this level. Scary?

 _No._ Rill seized the thought and crushed it into nothingness. She refused to be afraid of Sephiroth. She would not let this change the way their lives functioned.

Mind over matter should have been easy...

 _You're not exactly approaching this with any amount of give, Rill._ Aeris wheedled. _You can fight fear with discipline and consistency. But you can't kill it._

 _We're being rude, stop it._ Rill held her hands over another wounded man, channeling her Cure materia to seal up the minor slash to his arm. She had Aeris had handled the worst injuries yesterday. A boon and curse because while the older injuries were the hardest to heal, it also meant that there had been relatively few deaths in their part of the slums.

They had Angeal to thank for that. The man was currently out like a light inside their house, having been up all night to ensure that someone from Shinra came to pick up the captured and defeated AVALANCHE members.

But still, relatively few... More than twenty people had died in their neighborhood. Rill knew that she and Aeris would be losing quite a few flowers to their funerals.

But they would pick themselves up and keep moving forward.

"Thanks, Rill." Her middle aged smiled as he flexed his wiry arm gingerly. "That'll be good enough to get me back to work."

"Don't push yourself, Dean." She cautioned. "Another day of no strain, then pick it up slowly again." But the odds were good that her warning couldn't be heeded, not with the state their local economy was in. Most of their employed men were in charge of recycling and trash pick up at the dumps. Right now though, Pres Shinra was offering a special time offer for men who wanted to come above the Plate to assist with construction and clean up in the aftermath of the attack.

 _He just wants cheap labor._ And still his pitiful, penny pinching offer was twice as much as a slum man would earn for a day's work.

Only after their last patient had gone home and they had headed back inside did Rill realize what was setting her on edge so much.

Her phone was gone.

There hadn't been an obnoxious text from a certain redheaded Turk, or a desperate call from a black haired SOLDIER or a shy well wish from a blonde infantryman.

That meant she didn't have a way to get any updates about Reno's or Zack's whereabouts. It was making her itch slightly to be perfectly honest. She worried about them! She knew they were both capable and had been looking after themselves long before she came along but she was concerned all the same. Cloud was actually very good at keeping himself out of the usual trouble that plagued Shinra foot soldiers. He had good sense, something that most people she worked with seemed to lack. Unfortunately, his friendship with Zack balanced that right out.

And there was the fact that Rill kept on looking towards the various entrances in hopes of seeing Sephiroth.

He had been... mildly terrifying when she last saw him. Definitely the vicious Black Demon of the Wutian front lines instead of the polished, well mannered Silver General. But what had made her shudder the most was seeing her dorky, cookie obsessed, socially awkward friend disappear inside an awe-inspiring monster. A monster bent on her absolute safety, but a monster nonetheless.

 _I need to get my phone replaced..._ She mused to herself. _Hopefully the Turks have a backup of all my contacts lying around somewhere._ It was somewhat saddening to lose her phone, in hindsight. She'd been through a lot with that thing. It was actually amazing that it still worked at all given what she had put the poor thing through. One of the most memorable of which involved the infamous Zoo Invasion and Reno wanting to dispose of some...incriminating evidence she had captured on its camera. _First time in company history that we had to pay for a rhinoceros' digestive problems._ The phone had survived, after a suitably intense clean up. Reno's probation from field work was extended, yet again. The incident was recorded in the company's log as well as her personal records. And there hadn't been an impending lawsuit at the end of the day!

"Are you gonna start sighing anytime soon?" Aeris asked coyly, a tiny grin on her face. "You're almost making moon eyes..."

"You're not funny, Aeris." Rill told her cousin dryly. "Who would I be sighing after?"

"The fearsome demon who came to your rescue like a knight in shining armor. Or I guess it was more like a demi-god in black leather~." Rill wasn't sure which description would get more public support. One thing was for sure: In the mind of the public, Rill and Sephiroth were an item as of today. He had been carrying her through the streets and refused to let anyone touch her until he found a medic he trusted and even then, he stayed within ten feet of her.

She wasn't looking forward to acknowledging that behemoth in the room when she did see him again.

"You're saying you're not at all moved by this?" Aeris teased. "I mean he just came in and swept you off your feet again-!"

"It was more like yanked me out of the debris." Rill replied tartly. "And I'm currently still coping with the trauma of being abducted. Dearest cousin, kindly shut your trap." But there was no real bite to her words. She had Aeris would always be at friendly odds over this aspect of life. Aeris wanted her to live a little so she could have a romance vicariously. Rill just wanted to keep moving and get her work done without getting stuffed into a lab.

 _When you fall for someone, I will stand here and laugh._ She informed the other Cetra girl over the table with a wicked smile. _I will tell him all your embarrassing kid stories, and dig out the hoard of baby photos that Auntie and I have been saving, and maybe your old diary for good measure._ Aeris jumped and blushed.

 _Where the heck did you get my diary from!? I burned it!_

 _Hmmm...no you didn't._

Satisfied that she had put her cousin in her place, Rill rose from the kitchen table and stretched,

"I think I'll head over to the church." Someone had to start cutting the lilies and sorting them into bouquets for the deceased.

"I'd like to come with you." Angeal's voice came from the stairs as he came down into the kitchen. "My sword and uniform are still there. If they were found, it would mean trouble for you." Rill shrugged, stepping into her shoes at the backdoor.

"Be my guest."

-vVv-

 _Whelp...I'm getting deja vu._ Rill stared down at the motionless, clearly asleep form of Zack as he lay sprawled in her and Aeris' largest flower bed, surrounded by a few broken boards and old shingles. She looked up at a large hole in the roof and sighed. _He felt through the roof and lived... Not only that, but he fell asleep at the bottom?_

Angeal was staring at his old protege with his mouth hanging open as he reached the same conclusion that Rill had.

"Did he fall off the top of the Plate?" Rill squinted at the extent of the damage that had been done to the ground, and hummed.

"Looks like it." Judging by the fact that there weren't any unknown boot prints in the flowers, Zack hadn't stirred since he landed. The cheerful flowers nodded over him, their leaves subtly curling over his arms and legs as he lay sprawled out like a starfish. _Goodgoodgood._ The Planet hummed in her mind, a slightly louder and more complex melody than usual.

"What do you think happened?" Angeal asked, seeming hesitant to come any closer to his former apprentice than he already was.

Rill approached and examined him, scanning him briefly with first her Cure then her Heal materia.

"Got hit with a Sleep spell. Probably while doing one of those fancy jumping sword strikes." She informed the concerned man behind her, who groaned. For all that Zack's... exuberant style made for some powerful attacks, it wasn't convenient for fending off multiple opponents, nor was it especially effective against magic users, as evidenced here.

"He probably didn't even feel when he hit the ground." The magically induced slumber had long since run out, Zack was genuinely, healthily and naturally asleep. Rill laid a hand on his forehead, finding and removing the brain damage that the concussion had caused. Her experience with head injuries in general and head injuries on Zack in particular was far beyond what mere words could tell.

She looked over at Angeal with some concern. There was guilt and regret on his face, hope and fond rueful affection. All directed at Zack.

"Do you want to leave before he wakes up?" _Or are you going to stay and let him know that you're alive?_ The former was probably the safer, smarter option. But Angeal would probably regret not having said goodbye properly for the rest of his incognito life if he left now. In any case, it was something Rill was determined to give him.

Angeal chew over the problem for quite some time...then he sighed, shoulders slumping.

"I'll...I'll stay and fix the roof." Rill couldn't help smiling as she understood the unspoken message. _I'll stay until he wakes up._ The Mako in his system would have been healing Zack from the moment he was injured. And with Rill there to boost his recovering from the concussion, she didn't doubt he'd be up and about at full capacity within a few more hours, at most. It would have been better, naturally, if he hadn't gone to sleep at all and someone had been nearby to heal him as quickly as possible...

But listening to the way he was sawing logs, Rill concluded with relief, that Zack would be perfectly fine and healthy once he awoke with no problems beyond some minor disorientation and a nonfunctional brain to mouth filter.

 _So nothing out of the ordinary._

She was trimmed some flowers into funeral wreaths when he stirred. Aeris had come by and flushed bright pink upon seeing the handsome SOLDIER sprawled out in her garden. Rill half expected her to boot him awake as she had Angeal, but instead, Aeris just left him alone and sat down to start working alongside her. Though Rill caught the brief, but rather frequent glances that she threw in his direction and the persistent blush on her cheeks.

 _Vindicated~_ Rill sang through their bond, rewarded by deep, wordless embarrassment in reply. Aeris knew better than to deny. Not when Rill could feel her attraction so potently.

When Zack stirred, Aeris was up and at his side before Rill could gather her thoughts and intervene. Unlike her cousin, the flower girl didn't have a built up indifference to Zack's stupidity induced blather.

"Hey, are you alright...?" Zack mumbled...then groaned something out in answer that Rill didn't quite manage to hear. She did feel Aeris' blush though.

 _What did he say?_ She asked, rising when she sensed that her cousin needed some emotional support.

 _He called me an angel..._ Rill cast her mind back to all the times she had needed to wake Zack...

 _Yes, his brain to mouth filter is shut off whenever he's just waking up._ She said by way of explanation. _Or whatever function he has that passes for a filter._

Aeris took a deep breath then. Rill noticed that the Planet was speaking to Aeris, but couldn't make out what was being said. She only noticed that all of Aeris' embarrassment and nerves had vanished, leaving behind hopeful joy and exultant singing.

Rill stood where she was and looked on and smiled as a feeling of peace and fondness wrapped around her. Picking up her completed bouquets, the other Cetra left the church to leave the future couple in peace.

Once Zack stopped gawking, she would come in and embarrass the living daylights out of both of them. But until then, she would let them have their fairy tale moment.

-vVv-

Zack didn't think that waking up after a fight would be this nice and peaceful. He smelt flowers. He hadn't smelt flowers since home-

Wait...no. That wasn't right. Rill always smelt like flowers. She collected them in her house and somehow managed to make them grow and flourish even in the city. It made her small apartment feel more like home than anywhere else in the city. That and her food were what always brought Zack to her place whenever he could swing it.

Was he at Rill's place? It would explain the earthy, green smell.

 _Nah. Her couch isn't this uncomfortable._ And he had been in combat last he knew, he'd have been in a hospital bed or his barracks, not Rill's apartment. _Darn..._ No tasty food.

So where was he?

"Hey, are you alright...?" That sounded like Rill though. Shiva's icy glare, it really sounded like Rill! When she was being nice and concerned, and not all strict and mom-like. Fun Rill vs Boss Rill. Zack relaxed. He could always feel relaxed whenever Rill was around, no matter which version she was right then. He cracked his eyes and saw a mess of brown hair overhead, pulled back, like it always was unless he or Reno managed to steal her hair tie or clips.

"This must be heaven, cause you're an angel..." He heard a tiny sound of surprise and mentally fistpumped. He opened his eyes all the way, knowing he had a goofy grin on his face. When his vision cleared, Zack abruptly choked with mortification.

 _That's...not Rill._

The girl was just as pretty, but she wasn't Rill and that was slightly disappointing, because he would have gotten all the bragging rights for making her flush. But mostly, this was extremely baffling, because that wasn't Rill!

 _It's not Rill._

Rill's eyes were blue, the dark azure of a starry night sky. Her hair was mahogany brown and super soft and shiny. It was a mortal sin that she kept her eyes hidden behind reading glasses and had her hair tied back all the time. Not descriptors he usually used, but he had had a lot time to put it together...

Zack had had a slight, or, well, severe, crush on Rill when she had first begun to work in the SOLDIER department. It was a common enough ailment and one he had gotten over with time and exposure to her...For the most part.

But there was a pretty girl standing over him that he had just flirted with who was looking a little flushed, but was smiling beautifully.

 _Her smile is like Rill's._

Rill's work smile was a faint upturn at the corners of her mouth. Her real smile pulled up one side of her mouth, showed a dimple in one cheek, and made her eyes crinkle and glitter with internal laughter. And this unknown girl was smiling in the exact same way, except the dimple was on the other side. _How is that possible?_

Zack felt his mind, and manners, snap into traction almost at the same time.

The flowery smell and his discomfort stemmed from the fact that he was sitting in a flowerbed. The strange girl was offering him her hand.

"Sorry to disappoint. You're in an old church in the Sector 5 Undercity." Zack swallowed and accepted her hand, though he still did most of the work in getting up himself. The girl was wearing a nice white dress and even though her hands weren't or weak, he was far from light and he didn't want her clothing to get dirty. Her eyes were green-blue and her hair was a lighter shade of brown than Rill's. Their faces were similar, but Rill's was a trifle softer. His friend looked a little younger than this girl.

"Ah...Sorry about...angel thing." He apologized awkwardly. "I thought-" He cut himself off. Rill had been drilling him excessively about what was a good thing to say to a girl and what was a bad idea. And something like what he had just said would make any girl blush, or most of them at least, and telling her that it had been meant for another girl would be a very bad idea.

"You thought I was someone else?" She inquired, giggling. _Damn._ "I'm no angel. And I'm glad I'm not because that would mean you would be dead, and that would make the flowers sad." While Zack wasn't that...happy with having been caught, he was...curious?

"The flowers would be sad?" He asked, looking down with some guilt at where the delicate stems had been crushed under his boots. _They do look kinda sad right now..._

"Yeah. I would be too." This was said with another bright smile in his direction. Zack could feel his brain fizzle for a second. He cleared his throat, aware that she was still standing kinda close...

"I'm Zack." He blurted. "Zack Fair." She performed a mock curtsy, still smiling at him with that dimple...

"Aeris Gainsborough."

Aeris was like Rill in yet another two aspects, Zack concluded.

She was really easy to be around. After he had sent a check in message to explain what had happened to him, and that he'd be back in a few hours, Zack realized that he had never had such an easy time talking to a girl that he had just met. He'd have thought that Aeris would be angry for crushing so many of her flowers, but instead she just waved it off.

" _They'll grow back. They always do. And they kept you from getting hurt, so it's worth it."_

And she was really good at getting him to work with her without him realizing what he was doing.

He came to this realization as he held a bouquet of flowers for Aeris to tie together as she explained what she was doing and why.

"I didn't think I'd see two people who could grow flowers in Midgar." Zack remarked, thinking back about Rill and wondering. He hadn't gotten to see her, but he had been told by Sephiroth that she was safe and with her family. _Didn't he say they were in the slums somewhere?_ No, Reno had said it. Something about Rill scaring the living daylights out of him when he was on duty.

"Oh?" Aeris asked, seeming to be more focused on tying the white ribbon into a pristine bow.

"Yeah." _Actually..._ It had to be a pretty rare thing to have flowers growing. Maybe these girls knew each other? _Ha! I can too be smart, Reno!_ "You wouldn't happen to know anyone called Nerilka would you?" It might have been a major blow to any points that he might get from her, but his friend was kinda more important than a stranger... _Even if she's a really cute girl-_ Stop it!

Aeris didn't seem that bothered, she just smiled all the more brightly.

"Nerilka? I've heard of her." Zack perked up, relieved. It would be interesting to see how Seph reacted when Zack managed to see Rill before him. _Maybe I can get him to admit that he likes her..._

"That's great! I'm a friend of hers from work. You wouldn't happen to know where she lives down here?"

"Why do you want to know?" Oh...Oh he knew that voice. Aeris was being coy. But Zack was on a mission.

"I'm worried about her." He looked at Aeris with something that his fellows called puppy dog eyes. They also said it was entirely unfair that he could pull the look off without compromising his dignity. _Dignity. Pst! Who needs it? I have brownies!_ "I haven't seen her in a while and I know she got involved with the terrorist attack up top. I just wanna make sure she's alright." The young brunette considered him with a smile that seemed almost impish...

"Alright. Help me carry all of these bouquets to the memorial, and I'll show you where she lives." Zack was about to agree when there came a thud and a splintering sound from the roof. He instantly tensed, reaching for his sword until he heard human voices.

"Aeris! Stop manipulating my friends!" Zack jumped, staring at the old patchwork roof. There was a hole where he had fallen through that was freshly patched, but there were gaps in the tiles and beams that revealed Rill, the Fun Rill.

"Rill!?" He was bewildered for a split second before the happiness kicked in and a thought occurred to him. Zack raced over to where he could grin up at her. "Can I hold it over your head that you're stuck on a roof?" She snorted.

"Not a chance, Zack. I'm up here cleaning up after you, as usual." He really should have expected that Rill knew carpentry as well. Aeris laughed.

"Come on, Rill, I was this close!"

"Nope! You are not taking shameless advantage of the fact that Zack can't say no to damsel's in distress. Tough it out!"

It made sense that they knew each other, Zack admitted to himself as he went to the door to eagerly await Rill coming back onto he ground. Just so he could give her the mother of all noogies for stressing him out by getting kidnapped! He was totally gonna assign himself to be her bodyguard. _I love being 1st Class._ It was obvious that she needed one. Even Sephiroth would agree!

Zack's initial glance over revealed that Rill was happy, healthy and all but completely recovered from her fright. She didn't look like the pictures from yesterday at all, bloody, dusty, dirty and disheveled. He snatched her into a hug, spinning around delightedly, enjoying the disgusted, but not upset grimace on her face.

"Zack, your post-combat odor is as authentic as an ID card, but completely unnecessary since only you could sleep through falling off the Plate."

"Your snarky comment can not be answered at this time, please try again later!" Then something just kinda fitted into place and Zack could feel the light bulb flash on in his head. "Wait a sec..."

Zack pulled back, looking between Rill and Aeris...

"Come over here." He put them next to each other then proceeded to cross examine them...squishing first Rill's cheeks, then Aeris, who seemed more amused than exasperated.

Rill was a little darker in her hair, eyes and skin, and she looked younger... But right now, with both of them having their hair pulled back and looking at him with matching quizzical tilts to their heads-

"Geez...you guys could almost be twins!" This made the two girls exchange a long look. Zack knew that look, Rill used it all the time. It was the 'I-just-stated-the-obvious-and-am-being-judged.' look. He didn't get to hear what they had to say on this, because another familiar voice spoke behind him.

"It's called a family resemblance, Puppy." Zack went stock still. _No way..._

-vVv-

When Angeal's voice rang out from the doorway, Rill and Aeris didn't even need to exchange a glance or a single word before they quietly walked out of the church. Zack didn't seem to notice, staring at the figure of his mentor and father figure in the doorway.

 _Not something that needs witnesses._ Rill thought.

 _Agreed._ They only paused to pick up the flowers that they had bundled to carry them outside. Angeal knew where the house was and would come back for lunch. Or dinner, it was getting closer to evening.

The SOLDIER to SOLDIER talk would probably involve Zack shouting at least once, but neither of them felt any impression from the Planet that stated they should linger. So out they went without a backwards glance. There was a beat of hesitation in Rill's steps ( _This is going to hurt Zack even more than believing Angeal was dead)_ but with Aeris taking hold of her hand, she allowed herself to be led away.


	22. Trust

The two SOLDIER came to the house. Rill noticed immediately that Zack had the Buster Sword attached to his harness and moved with a little more purpose now than before.

Rill looked at the younger man with concern. His eyes were a little red, but he was composed. Or as composed as Zack ever could be.

"It is time that I take my leave." Angeal informed the three women standing in the small kitchen. He half bowed to them. "I will be forever in your debt for your kindness."

"It was a pleasure to have you with us." Elmyra's voice was warm and fond and the younger girl's smiles spoke for themselves, though Rill did still have something to say...Provided the Planet would tell her what.

 _Don't wait for the Planet._ Aeris chided her. _He was your friend before anything else._

It didn't change the fact that Rill still had no idea of what to say to him...

"The pleasure was mine for being allowed to stay." Angeal looked at Rill then. "And then there's you."

"Didn't you get your thanks out before?" She asked. _When in doubt, snark._

"I never will be able to. I owe you far too much for that." _The Straight Man counters with a highly embarrassing sincere compliment! How do you respond?_

Blush, apparently. Rill exhaled, knowing that Zack was looking at her with his mouth hanging open slightly. _Oh yeah, he's never seen me blush before..._

Angeal was the kind of person to remember someone who he was obligated to for years and years thereafter. It would always chase after him, he could not rest until he felt as if that debt had been repaid.

He was supposed to make a new start. Free from any and all of his demons from the Wutai Conquest.

Rill didn't want him to leave like this.

"Regardless of how grateful you are...Don't go thinking you have to pay me back." This seemed to surprise him, but Rill just continued, honestly trying to put her desires into words.

"I wasn't trying to put you in a position where you felt indebted to me...I just wanted to help."

-vVv-

Naturlly, both Angeal and Zack were required to stay for dinner. Once they were both in the house, it took Elmyra about three seconds to realize that Zack was falling for one of her daughters.

Or rather, falling again and falling for the first time for Rill and Aeris respectively.

Rill had mentioned that some of the boys in her department had been unsure of how to handle her, a female of the species, in a formerly male dominated section of the company. There had been a lot of awkward tension until her identity as 'utterly off limits' was established.

Zack was just seeing Rill in a completely new light among her family and in her home. It was playing merry hell with with how he had previously viewed her younger daughter. Elmyra always did think that one had to see Rill with Aeris to see her as she was meant to be.

Aeris had always been so shy and quiet as a child, grave to the point of solemnity. Rill had been mischievous and scrappy, having travelled into the city by herself at an incredibly young age to find her only living family. And once Aeris had seen her, everything about her seemed to change.

The quiet girl who made the flowering weeds bloom in the slums seemed to glow and expand, reaching for the sunlight of her sister's company and growing rapidly. Rill in turn tamed herself, her temper cooling to almost perfect neutrality, and all but shining as she listened to the voice that only she and Aeris could hear, and loving it.

The young SOLDIER was already enamored with Rill and very obviously cared for her immensely. He was also utterly charmed by Aeris to the point of spilling his drink down his front in his distraction.

Had her younger, wilder daughter not sworn off romance when she entered puberty, Elmyra wouldn't have been sure which of the two would eventually end up in a relationship with the young man. Rill already had the tremendous advantage of knowing and being trusted and liked by him. But as it stood now, Elmyra would have bet money on Aeris and Zack.

"Angeal." Rill was looking at the tall man who had been their guest for two days now. "What should we say to Sephiroth?" Zack froze in the process of taking a bite, looking rather comical.

 _Oh yes..._

The infamous general acted more childish than her own children at times for all he was more than five years older than them. He was Rill's boss, but so long as he was in Elmyra's house, he was the son she'd never had.

He had been deeply unsettled by the departure of his friends, one of whom was currently sitting at her kitchen table. It had taken weeks of cajoling and effort to lift Sephiroth's spirits again after Genesis and Angeal left. And Zack didn't look the type to be able to lie or keep a secret for very long.

Angeal sighed, brows furrowing with worry that Elmyra wanted to swat off his face. _You're too young to be fretting so!_

"I suppose I owe him an explanation as well...he would be the only one of our group that doesn't know about me..."

"I'd offer to call him down here, but my phone was lost in the attack." Rill's wrinkled her nose. "And I think the Turks have it wired anyway..."

"And I cannot safely go above the Plate to seek him out." Zack swallowed his last mouthful.

"I could call him." He offered. "Could go rustle up some monsters, call him up and flag him for help, he comes on down, and bam! There's 'Geal!"

"Sephiroth is the acting commander with no one experienced enough to take his place for clean up. They'll have him trapped behind a desk coordinating for as long as it takes until Lazard is back on duty. They'd send another 1st Class down if you called for backup, not him." Rill corrected her friend, tapping her jaw thoughtfully as her eyes gazed at something in the far distance as she tried to think up some method of getting Sephiroth down here without bringing down any unwanted attention. Aeris was clearing the table, letting the business people discuss and try to brainstorm some idea.

"Zack, any plan that you start off with a significant amount of duct tape or glue, I automatically veto."

"That and you're still cut off."

"Come on! It'll be for a good cause!"

Elmyra let the children bond.

She had her own landline that she could use to call the general down, but it was so nice to have such a riveting discussion going on! She loved meeting Rill's friends!

-vVv-

Angeal said that he had to leave, but Rill noticed that he was lingering all the same. _Reluctant to leave._ It had been two days since AVALANCHE"s attack. Zack had gone, reported back that he was unharmed and was milking the fact that he had fallen off the Plate into the slums for all it was worth by spending as much time as he could here. Her family didn't mind their presence at all. It certainly made for lively meals. What was starting to get old was-

"And, I win."

"Again!?" Aeris teaching Zack how to play cards properly. Not the garbled version that the SOLDIER's played, actual playing without the bragging, boasting or bluffing that was so often added to the game.

Zack was...slow on the uptake, to say the least.

Rill watched as Aeris dealt the cards again, giggling at Zack's indignant complaints at how she had to be cheating.

 _He's not wrong._ Rill thought with a quirk of amusement to her lips. She had Aeris were far from card sharks but there were some things that you learned in the slums...

A generic ringtone made Zack pause.

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot, Rill." He pulled out a brand new, updated PHS and tossed it to her from where she lounged on the couch reading. She almost fumbled the catch, but she managed to keep the device from slipping out her hands. "Tseng gave that me, said it was for you. He said they copied over all of your old data that they had backed up so you don't have to go replacing any numbers."

"That was nice of him." Aeris remarked as Rill perused her contact list to verify. It had been awhile since she last updated the back up so there might be a few numbers missing...

Not many of any great importance.

Just Genesis'.

 _What is it?_ Aeris's light colored gaze flashed across the room at her, concern mounting when Rill's roiling emotions began to jerk around unsteadily. As they usually did when she thought about the ex-SOLDIER.

 _Nothing much._ She hadn't even realized that she had kept his number in her old phone... Likely the Turks had remembered that he was no longer on the roll because his phone had been company property, and thus had erased it from her contacts because the number wasn't in service anymore.

What had he been doing talking to AVALANCHE?

 _Will this course of thought make you happy, or make you mad?_ Aeris inquired.

 _...Probably mad._

 _Then stop thinking about it._

Rill checked the phone and saw that she had been left a voice message from-

 _Rufus?_

" _In light of your recent...bah, woman, was the six months of your employment all an elaborate hoax? You cause absolutely no trouble, expedite everything and even help negotiate the end of the Wutian War, and then you turn around and become the catalyst for a renewed battle against AVALANCHE!  
Regardless, it has become clear that you are now seen as a priority target. Thus, you require a bodyguard. Reno has volunteered. Non negotiable. I wish you a pleasant recovery."_

Rill sat, blinking and somewhat bewildered.

 _I got abducted once...and they're saddling me with a bodyguard? Influence aside, I'm a secretary!_

Aeris had some...helpful commentary.

 _I believe they are viewing you more as Sephiroth's biggest trigger than an employee after this last incident._ Which suddenly made a lot more sense. Rill's vision flashed briefly with the sight, sound and smell of the carnage that Sephiroth had moved through and caused in order to protect her.

Her stomach roiled and she fought down her nausea.

He had undoubtedly saved her life and the fearsome man was her friend. One of the closest ones she had outside of her cousin and aunt. But it didn't change the fact that Rill had been traumatized and would probably have some trouble getting back to the same level of familiar interaction that had characterized their relationship before.

-vVv-

Zack had been called away to help pursue and capture Hollander. Angeal had stayed around for about a day or so, restless and uncertain, then given in and followed him. He had promised to return however, and Rill and her family had bade both of the warriors goodbye regretfully and praying for their safety. Angeal was determined to find some way to let Sephiroth know he was alive and well, but had concluded that trying to contact him inside the city would be asking for a manhunt to start and he would get chased to the ends of Gaia if they ever believed he was still alive.

All Rill could do was trust in the will of the Goddess that Angeal would find some way to make good on his word.

Two weeks of recovery after her abduction, she was back in the Shinra building to resume work. Reno had joined her enroute to above the plate to her own apartment and greeted her as 'roomie'.

"You are living...in the same apartment as me." She asked slowly. _There is no way this is happening. They are not giving me a babysitter!_ He shrugged with a grin that looked a curious blend between forced and genuine.

"I'm technically your new, stalker neighbor who breaks into your apartment while you're asleep. Or your new best friend, if it sounds any better, yo." She was silent for a moment...then sighed.

"Alright. If I find my clothing disturbed, or any suspicious objects in my bathroom, you're getting shipped back to the Admin Department in a matchbox." Reno held up his hands.

"Clear as crystal, ma'am. Tseng and Seph already read me my rights."

"So aside from shadowing me, what else do your duties entail?"

"Generally making sure you know how to handle yourself in an actual fight. Rumor has it you did real good the last two times, but there's nothing like a little Turk education, yo~."

They were up on her floor by now. Rill had been so absorbed in her conversation with Reno that she missed the humming of the Planet informing her a VIP was close by.

When she almost ran straight into Sephiroth's chest, her reflexes made her jerk back as memories of her bloody rescue flashed through her mind.

Her tall boss was smiling at her but there was a certain brittle quality to it. _He saw the flinch._ Rill cursed the fact that her hands were trembling ever so slightly.

"Glad to see you're back, Rill." She sank into Nerilka's mind as if she were submerging herself in a pool of water.

"It is good to be back, sir." The voice was too cool for how they usually were together. Too distant for the friendship that they held. But it was all she could manage at the moment. The Planet's chimes were a bit discordant as Rill entered her office, not looking back at Sephiroth.

 _I'm sorry..._ Rill's hands shook as her Nerilka persona cracked. _I can't just...unsee what happened. I can't forget how easily you killed._

-vVv-

Reno barely kept himself from flinching as well at Rill's subtle, but noticeable reaction to Sephiroth.

 _Ah man..._ What had happened to her was horrible. She had probably been terrified. And Seph's fervor to retrieve her had translated to absolutely no mercy to any that might be a threat to her. Rill was tough, she'd find some way of dealing with it.

But it sucked rocks that her trauma had decided to use Sephiroth as a focus instead of another stimuli.

He had brought it up to the man before that Rill might need a little time to adjust. He knew trauma was nothing to joke about and trying to brute force one's way through it could very well make it worse. Rill would reflexively draw away from the man, and he absolutely could not pressure her. It would kick off her fight-or-flight responses if he moved too quickly and damage their relationship still further.

What had to change was her unconscious association of him with the negative event. Sephiroth had to ease back into Rill's life slowly and carefully. Which meant not invading somewhere that she felt safe in. Not right away. _She has to make the first move. Invite him back into her life. It's a pretty #$% &* way of going about this considering how close you are with her and her family. But the last thing you want to do is hurt or scare her more than she already is._

-vVv-

It had been about two days since Rill had returned to work and Sephiroth's worst fears had come true when he saw her again.

She flinched. Tensing up warily like a doe sensing a predator in the area. She had tried to master herself, tried to behave normally until she pragmatically concluded that such a thing wasn't possible and so resumed the same distant iciness that had dominated their early association.

Almost a year of growth, nurturing and friendship had been brought back to square one a single hour.

 _Damn you, AVALANCHE..._ He didn't mind their goals. They were entitled to their opinion and there was still controversy in some parts of the world about Shinra's ecological impacts. What he had always disliked them for was their willingness to involve innocents in an attempt to draw Shinra out.

Now he didn't just dislike them.

Sephiroth hated AVALANCHE. He hated that egotistical, arrogant, thoughtless group of ragtag terrorists because their actions had cost him the last true friendship in his life. He had been in time to save her, but their relationship was all but destroyed.

He had felt this way when Genesis had first deserted, and when Angeal had disappeared without a trace. They left him. Years of friendship and camaraderie, sent up in flames. But he had mostly been angry then, not just hurt and bitter that they had gone and left him behind in his chains of obligation. He was angry with them...

But he was not angry with Rill.

 _Why?_ He wondered, drumming his gloved fingers on the desk. Since the city had been shifted into high alert, he was wearing his combat leathers and was fully armed. _She's cutting me out of her life. She doesn't want anything else to do with me. So why am I not angry at her?_

He knew he had emotional issues. Identifying and sorting everything out was tedious and frustrating. At least he knew what frustration was-

 _That's it. I'm frustrated._ He realized. _Why? It involves Rill because it gets stronger whenever I think about her. But it isn't her fault..._

Some more contemplation over the completed paperwork and area reports from recent dispatches led him to conclude that he had vastly underestimated how helpful Rill usually was in sorting out his emotions for him.

 _And now she can't even being the same room as me without trembling..._

He seized the emotion that came, because it was different from frustration and evaluated it.

He was disappointed, sad and guilty.

Disappointed: Because she was reacting like this even though he had managed to save her.

Sad: She clearly didn't want to be afraid of him and still wanted to be his friend, or at least so she behaved. (He barely gave the flicker of hope that this thought prompted a glance, more focused on the last feeling.)

Guilty because she had almost been harmed when she was under his protection.

 _She's a friend and an invaluable company asset._ He rationalized. _And for all that she's uncannily capable of safely navigating trouble, it has a similar knack for finding her. There's nothing amiss with being protective. She needs it!_ Which was why he was feeling better about Reno not only guarding her 24/7, but teaching her some semblance of formal combat. He was still rather irked with him for invading her personal space a few weeks ago when he broke into her apartment to sleep there. It was uncalled for him to treat her so casually!

 _Is it? Really?_ Another voice spoke up. It sounded...well, like Angeal at his most dry and pragmatic. _The Puppy's done the same thing and you've never reacted like this._

Well of course he wouldn't! Zack saw Rill as something between a sister or a mother considering how much time she spent cleaning up after him!

 _If that's the case, then what does Reno see her as?_

Why would the way the redheaded Turk views Rill change anything?

Sephiroth gave an annoyed sigh, opening a deep drawer in his desk and pulled out the tin that contained his stash of baked goods from Rill's kitchen, before he remembered that it had been empty for over a week. She had made sure that he had dozens of cookies and bars on hand, but the situation had been so stressful that he had gone through all of them within four days.

So why was he smelling chocolate and something citrusy?

The general opened the tin and saw inside were his first favorite cookies. Chocolate chip. And was that orange he smelt?

In a daze, he lifted out one of the confections, inhaling the sweet-tangy aroma.

Who...?

There was a note taped to the inside of the lid in Rill's handwriting.

 _Let me know how the recipe turned out. It's a new one._

He stared...then something inside him just sagged in naked relief.

It had been the first step Reno had mentioned he had to wait for. Rill reaching out to actively try and mend ties, indicating that she was either pushing past her trauma, or beginning to move beyond it.

He had waited, worried to be perfectly honest, for 14 days, not contacting her even though she had been given a new phone. _Gotta be gentle, yo. Anyone that's been hurt, accidental or otherwise, isn't gonna snap right back to the way they were. Take it slow, Seph. She doesn't want to be afraid of you._

He had half worried that it would take much longer for Rill to reach out.

Actually a little voice had claimed that she never would and the only way to try and remedy the situation was to power forward.

But it seemed his patience had been rewarded with a ray of hope.

-vVv-

" _Are you sure you're alright, Miss Rill?"_ Rill chuckled into the earpiece she had linked to her phone to be able to cook while she talked.

"I'm not as good as I was before this whole mess started, Cloud, but I'm already a lot better." She heard a familiar voice yelling in the background. "Is that Zack?"

" _Uh, yeah, that's him..."_ Cloud sounded embarrassed on behalf of his friend. _This oughta be good._ Rill smiled, transferring the chopped vegetables to the skillet on the stovetop.

"What happened this time?"

" _Um...hypothetically...how would you get pancake batter off an engine block?"_ She let out a breath.

"Pancake batter, huh? What kind of flour did he use to mix it up?"

" _Just regular wheat...I think."_

"Considering that it is Zack, use the iodine to check. Just put a drop on the batter, if it turns dark blue or black, it's regular starch and it should be washable with water. Is the engine block necessary right this instant?"

" _It's the helicopter that we need to fly out of here."_ Rill frowned. That posed a problem.

"Is it still warm?"

" _Yes."_

"There should be some degreaser in the maintenance shed. Just follow the instructions and don't let Zack help. And keep all loose flour away from any source of ignition. Airborne flour burns-" There was a new commotion from the other end of the line. "Cloud?"

" _Ah, gotta go. Zack just said 'oops' and I smell smoke."_ The line went dead and Rill shook her head.

"Only Zack..." She glanced back at Reno who was currently snoring on her couch from a caffeine crash. The smell of dinner would probably get him up and moving. But first, she had some other people to tend to.

Doling out two additional portions, Rill carried the plates to the door and set them down outside with the appropriate silverware.

"Please enjoy." She called to the other two Turks that had been assigned to her without her forward knowledge. Reno couldn't be awake constantly after all, so she had expected there to be a rotation of unknown guards as well as one that was attached to her hip.

 _Is this what you feel like all the time?_ She asked Aeris as she returned inside the confines of her apartment. _Like you can't so much as sneeze without someone recording it?_

 _Pretty close._

Waging war against AVALANCHE wasn't at all like the Wutian War.

That had been with clear battle lines and a specific purpose. To conquer. To resist.

This was guerilla warfare and sowing anarchy throughout formerly peaceful territory.

The levels of uncertainty and fear among the general populace were much higher. The battlefield was the streets and homes of innocent people.

Here and there were small scale attacks every few weeks, dotted all over the civilized, Shinra affiliated world. AVALANCHE was striking at the outer rim Mako reactors and villages, drawing out the military to protect and repair the damaged areas. But considering that they had launched a large scale assault on Midgar, President Shinra didn't dare deploy the main garrison from their defenses on the city. Eventually, their reserves would be overtaxed and they wouldn't be able to respond to the outlying distress signals with sufficient speed or force.

It took one man to set a bomb and push the trigger.

It took ten to clean up the debris and mourn the twenty lives that were destroyed.

AVALANCHE was drawing Shinra into a fight that they couldn't win. Eventually, the citizens of the various districts would despise Shinra for abandoning them. Likely, AVALANCHE was already offering support to some of the more angry locations to acquire new territory and support.

 _Rufus..._ Rill thought, grinding her teeth as she read the latest report of a small scale bombing in a small village south of Junon.

17 injured. 10 dead, including the man who had triggered the explosion.

AVALANCHE had demonstrated that they had created their own pseudo version of SOLDIER. They were stronger, faster and tougher than an ordinary infantry, but unlike a SOLDIER, they weren't holding together mentally or cognitively.

They were reduced to superpowered, blood thirsty animals that would respond to a conditioned handler and rip anyone else limb from limb. They placed no apparent value on their own lives and didn't respond to any injuries short of maiming or death. They fought through pain as if they only felt a fraction of it.

They were obviously improving though. The latest report claimed that this kamikaze bomber had behaved like a normal person up until someone had tried to move the explosive, then his control appeared to have snapped and he killed three people who tried to avert the crisis barehanded.

 _Why...?_ She thought, shoulders slumping a little as she surveyed the reports and the estimated recompense that would have to be cashed out to the locals. This wasn't fighting for the Planet, this was simply killing under a blood stained banner with no real inspired goal.

 _I hope they come back safely._ Rill thought of the many people who had been deployed. Turks to try and search out and the leaks and gather intel on AVALANCHE's movements and next targets. And Zack and Cloud were still on their way back from Modeoheim, transporting a captured Hollander. She hadn't heard if Genesis had been there but-

 _Stop._ She told herself, hardening her emotions. _Thinking about him is just going to make me feel worse. Stop. It._

Something positive... Something to brighten her day so she didn't go home in a dour, depressed mood...

She was slowly re acclimating herself to Sephiroth.

That was a positive.

The attack had been in early April. It was now the middle of May and Rill had finally stopped trembling in his mere presence and had been able to throw a dry phrase his way as he dealt with the latest group of cadets getting their first Mako injections.

His smile had been very good to see. Being able to return in sincerely had felt even better. But she still hadn't been able to meet his eyes directly. The shakes came back. But any progress was welcome news right now.

-vVv-

Zack and Cloud returned safely. Rill was needing to hide her phone from Aeris so she wouldn't try and call Zack. As if she wanted those conversations in her phone data! Zack was still recovering from an injury sustained up in Modeoheim.

 _They'll have finished regrowing his hair tomorrow. They're keeping him sedated until then._ Rill reminded her cousin as she roused from a much needed nap, stretching and yawning cavernously even as she soothed her lovestruck, very curious cousin.

 _Why is that?_ Rill snorted.

 _Because the last time Zack burned off all of his hair, he went catatonic for a week from shock and horror. They'd rather keep him asleep until they're done working than go through that again._

The only person Rill had seen who was more vain about his hair than Zack was Reno. Which she did not really understand since Sephiroth had almost three times as much hair as they did and in a more exotic color...

There came a clang and a raw throated yell. Rill hadn't sensed any danger, but she jumped out of bed and ran to her window. What she could see just at the corner confused her immensely.

 _Huh...Why does Cloud have a sword?_

She opened her window and leaned out to get a better look at one of the clear spaces where she had Aeris had grown grass. Thick, luxurious, severely undervalued, grass.

Sephiroth was visiting it seemed. One of a handful of times since the Incident. And he was armed, but he didn't just have Masamune with him...

The general was standing at one end of the field, watching as Cloud clumsily went through a basic set of drills with a Wutian katana. The quality blade from Sephiroth's own collection. He had also brought the standard broadsword, a short sword, a basic magical enhancement scimitar, essentially every basic edged weapon he had gathered over the course of his career... He had also brought Masamune, but he was using it to correct Cloud's form.

Even as she watched, he spoke, voice firm but not harsh.

"Thats enough." Cloud sheathed the katana and returned it to him. He looked nervous, but he was keeping his composure well.

"It-It doesn't feel right, sir."

"It doesn't look right either. You put more power behind your strikes, and don't move fast enough." Sephiroth tapped his fingers on Masamune's hilt. "A katana is a very forward, offensive weapon focused on speed. Perhaps something that allows for more blocking and defense..." He flicked the broadsword into his hand effortlessly, the heavier model that necessitated the use of both hands.

"Give this a try." Judging by the way Cloud's arms were trembling ,they had been at this for quite some time.

 _What's going on?_ She asked Aeris.

 _I'm not saying a word. You have to ask Sephiroth._ Rill scowled.

 _I'm not irrationally terrified of him anymore!_

 _Doesn't mean I should let you avoid him for any reason._ Aeris was apparently deciding to be difficult as payback for Rill keeping to company policy and not calling Zack while he was in medical for a personal reason.

 _Fine._ She dressed and went outside even as Sephiroth gave Cloud a break and let him gulp down some water.

"What's the occasion?" Rill inquired, gazing over the weapons, all high quality in spite of their simplicity. Sephiroth never accepted anything less than top notch.

"Just a hunch I had." He deflected, running a surprisingly gentle finger along the browning branch of a rose bush in the shadow of the house. He wasn't in his iconic leathers but he was dressed as if he expected to fight.

 _He's teaching Cloud how to use a sword?_

"Sephiroth..." She began in a warning tone, feeling her protective instincts raise its hackles. There it was again. That hair raising unease that she felt every now and then when she was around him.

"I'm not going to hurt him, Rill. Do you trust me?"

"Of course." She replied. "But I don't understand why you're doing this. Cloud's an infantryman, he's not cleared to use a sword." Bright green eyes looked at her and through her. _What?_ Rill blushed because Sephiroth was looking as though he had just seen her properly for the first time. _What is he staring at?_

"Executive decision on my part." He said, turning away with an obvious smile on his lips. The Planet was singing again. _Seriously, what!?_

 _You said you trusted him and you looked him in the eye without shaking._ Aeris reminded her gleefully.

 _I've always trusted him._ Rill protested as she sat on the grass to watch as Sephiroth got Cloud up again. _That doesn't change that I still got a major reality check about what he can actually do._

 _He'd never hurt you, Rill._ Aeris voice rang with certainty and a little resigned bemusement.

 _That's not what I was afraid of, Aeris. I was never afraid_ _of_ _him._ Rill let a smile form, small, distant and a little sad. _What terrified me wasn't the fact that he kills people. I already knew he did that even if it never happened in front of me._

 _It was that he did it for me._


	23. The Teacher

Life would have resumed a semi normal pattern had it not been for the small, tiny, inconsequential fact that Lazard up and disappeared into thin and and Rill ended up running the whole SOLDIER department. Literally.

"We will need some additional staff." She told Sephiroth wearily. "And someone will have to be promoted to Lazard's position, temporarily or otherwise." _We cannot do this forever, especially since Angeal and Genesis aren't here anymore._

"We can pull people in from just about anywhere, the issue would be making them useful." Sephiroth looked at his phone and picked it up with a sigh. "What is it, Zack?" _Ok, whatever he did, he doesn't want me knowing about._ "I don't care what you did...Yes, I'm wiring you bail money...No, I will not promise to not tell Rill. That would be fruitless considering she's standing right next to me."

"Alright, billing the 'Zack Expense.'"

-vVv-

Given her enormous success in training Emma in handling chaos, Rill was called upon to repeat the procedure for another five people.

"There are only five people besides myself and Reno who are supposed to be in this meeting." She said, resisting the urge to fidget. "I must ask you to leave and return to your duties."

The chorus of disappointment from the dozen of so of her admirers that had attempted to exploit an excuse to stare at her for a few hours a day made her shiver.

"Oi, move it out, losers!" Reno told them, expertly twirling his nightstick with a slight slasher grin. "She says get back to work, so that's what you're gonna do, capiche?"

Rill ran her eyes over the five people who were supposed to be there, matching their names to their faces. _I may very well need a little additional deterrent for my fans if I don't have Sephiroth around constantly._

"Welcome to your management training. This should hopefully only take a month or two. Much of what I can teach you will happen with very little prior warning or reason. I ask you to bear with me. Keep in mind, this is what I do for a living and you will be well compensated for your troubles."

-vVv-

" _Lesson #1 for working in a nuthouse: We're all mad here."_

Rill patted one sobbing woman's back consolingly.

"But...pink...nun...ballet...!"

"I know, dear. I know. It's alright."

" _Accept that it has happened, and focus on finding the solution. Only ask why when absolutely necessary for the sake of records."_

-vVv-

" _Lesson #5: Always assume the worst."_

Rill supervised three of her students as they handled the phone calls for help from Midgar alone.

"They...ate it? I see..."

"There was no call for such behavior, especially in front of children!"

The last one was slowly turning red as she listened, mouth hanging open slightly. _Oh dear. Looks like a hot one._

Taking pity on them, Rill one by one, took the calls and spoke clearly and concisely.

"Alright, Samson: Contact poison control, have the people in question ingest emetics ASAP and have the standing medic spam Esuna to keep their systems clear until the traces can be removed. Apologize sincerely to the caretakers, and give the sex talk to the group a few years early." Rill steeled herself mentally and picked up the last call...

She listened for a moment...then she hung up and called someone else.

"Private, you have my permission to punch your superior officer in the face. Once you have done that, administer the emergency sedative and, before it takes effect, inform the good captain that he will be speaking to the General personally for his behavior." She hung up and patted the woman consolingly on the back as she tried to keep her face from spontaneously combusting.

"The first really hot case is always the hardest. At least it was only one."

" _The worst case scenario is probably what happened. And in the event that it isn't, you're pleasantly surprised."_

-vVv-

" _Lesson #8: If the sentence contains the word 'hypothetically', prepare for the worst."_

-vVv-

" _Lesson #12: The ambulance, the company law office, the drunk tank, the fire department and a coffee shop are the five most important numbers in the directory."_

-vVv-

" _Lesson #15: If you haven't got line of sight on them, you can't say they're not in trouble."_

-vVv-

" _Lesson #23: No matter how tough, or rowdy they are, calling their mother always works."_

-vVv-

Rill raised her brows at one rather incredulous question.

"Are all of these legitimate rules?" She repeated. "You are not required to follow them. I have simply found that these methods are the most effective. If you wish to experiment, by all means, go ahead. Though I must advise you to not do so on the company's dime." Her smile could have flayed someone alive. "The financial department might not be as forgiving to you as they were to me."

-vVv-

Whatever Zack was doing out in the field, it was working magnificently. He was taking prisoners right and left. But Rill wasn't so sure if this was a good thing or not considering that the Science Department was all but salivating over the captured Ravens. They were apparently Fuhito's bid to oppose SOLDIER forces. _Though admittedly, the drooling might be them foaming in rage as well._ Hojo was not amused at the way his pioneering research had been used. The Ravens were strong, to be sure, but they were little more than mindless puppets.

"I created capable, conscious beings! Soldiers that can think and operate on multiple levels of combat beyond human limits, mentally and physically!" Rill heard Hojo's vehement muttering as she moved down the halls with Reno just at her elbow.

"What set him off?" She asked, arching a brow to conceal her reflexive shudder at the man's mere presence.

"Pres grouching over the fact that these Raven guys are causing so much trouble and SOLDIER isn't operating effectively." The redhead answered, popping his gum in his mouth. "He was after Veld last week and raked Heidegger over the coals before that. He's just tired of not having anything good to tell the people, yo."

"You mean nothing that makes him look good." Rill murmured under her breath, eliciting a snort from Reno.

Almost six months had passed since AVALANCHE's attack on Midgar and her brief abduction.

 _Brings it to a year since Genesis-_ Rill forced her thoughts to derail from that line of thinking. She hadn't been able to keep from thinking about Genesis, even though she had done her utmost not too.

-vVv-

 _She had been disturbed in making breakfast, rallying her courage to face the day and the celebrations others would feel obligated to throw for her. Rill didn't really care that much about her birthday until it came to eating cake with her family._

 _The knocking at the door made her still nervous hands fumble and she almost dropped the knife she was using to cut some fruit for her breakfast. It sliced her thumb deeply and she grumbled, sticking it into her mouth while she palmed her almost ever present bangle and its Cure materia to mend the damage as she went to the door._

 _The mailman had a package for her. But what made her pause as she accepted the hand sized parcel and the attached card was the way he was shaking. Coupled with his too pale face, she felt justified in addressing him._

" _Are you alright?" She asked, wondering what a man like this was doing when he clearly was unwell._

 _He flinched at he sound of her voice and offered her a painfully cheery smile._

" _Never been better, miss!" He wasn't meeting her eyes. Rill's hackles went up even as Reno peered out of his apartment right beside hers, he had opened the door silently and was watching the deliveryman with sharp, dangerous eyes._

Planet...? _Rill asked cautiously._

The man doesn't mean any harm, and you're not in any danger. _Aeris had roused the moment Rill's uncertainty and fear spiked and translated the omnipresent being's reply. But there was still this strange tension that she could all but hear in the air._

 _Reno took the package from her hands_

" _Alright, that seems a little fishy, yo. Let's see here..."_

 _He investigated it briefly, then opened it..._

 _Whatever he saw inside made him tense, then drop the package and race down the hall after the mailman._ He's supposed to deliver the daily mail to the rest of the building upstairs, and he's going down... _That was extremely worrying. So why wasn't Rill getting any danger signals?_

 _She picked up the package that Reno had dropped and read the note._

I spend my days waiting for you, searching the crowd for your face.

I stopped breathing when you caught my eyes, and captured my soul with your gaze

Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return.

You are ever in my thoughts, my love. I shall be with you soon.

 _The note was written in Genesis's hand though there was no signature and Rill had been too shocked to do anything except stare at what she held. He had sent her a pair of silver earrings crafted in the shape of wings. And while Rill was touched on some level...mostly she was just afraid._

-vVv-

She had never put the gift on.

 _We were never together. There's no obligation for me to wear them._ She reminded herself whenever she looked at them sitting innocently on her dresser. Her bangle from Sephiroth always felt a lot heavier whenever she slid it on in the morning.

It wasn't very conducive to not thinking about Genesis.

"What I'm surprised by is that he isn't going after Sephiroth." Rill mused. "He's the one in command after all..." The turk beside her half stumbled.

"Rill...I'm pretty sure that you're the only person in the world who could even try to discipline Seph and reasonably expect him to listen."

"Not true, my aunt can do it too."

-vVv-

Sephiroth was enjoying an evening at home. Which is to say, an evening with the Gainsboroughs. Aeris had hauled Rill off to the church to water the flowers when Elmyra turned towards him with a gleam in her eyes that made the general pause.

"So, Sephiroth, since my other daughter has decided to play deaf whenever the subject comes up: What did you get her for her birthday that she is so shy about?" The silver haired man just blinked in bewilderment...

"I didn't. I don't even know when her birthday is." It just wasn't an important factor in their relationship. Though he hastily remedied that assumption at the older woman's sigh. Apparently it was important. He hoped he had not just committed a major slight against Rill...

"It was in May, Sephiroth. May 22nd. And no doubt, she hasn't been forthcoming about it in hopes that her admirers wouldn't swamp her with gifts. No matter." The motherly woman placed her hands on her hips. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised if she didn't want anything..." Sephiroth pondered this revelation though.

Rill had always struck him as the type to not be bothered one way or the other whether or not people celebrated her birthday. But the thought of getting her a gift was oddly satisfying. He was always ridiculously proud and pleased whenever he saw her wearing the bangle he had commissioned for her. But there was another emotion tangled up in there that, in hindsight, ruthlessly dominated what he felt towards Rill. It colored and shaped his every interaction with her. A warm, fond affection that he relied on the same way his body required his heart to beat.

His day was not complete without seeing or speaking to her. His primary connection to the home he had been welcomed into. The family he was a part of. His one and only friend from before his world started to fall apart.

"Is there...some sort of formal setting or custom for gift giving on a birthday that is different from Christmas?" He asked Elmyra who paused from her work in the kitchen, preparing a hearty dinner for her girls when they returned.

"Oh Sephiroth...She doesn't care about getting presents."

"But I want to give her something." And he wanted to do it right. It felt like...cheating somehow to ask her mother figure about this, but it was simply the most pragmatic option he had available and the most trustworthy. Somehow, he didn't like the idea of asking Zack or Reno for advice. Or even the infantryman he had become grudgingly attached to.

 _Cloud._ He reminded himself. The boy had earned his respect for outright asking him why he was training him.

" _I'm anything but ungrateful for your help, sir. But I still want to know: Why are you doing this? It isn't because you like me, or that you're obligated to train me, so why is it?" Sephiroth looked at the scrawny blonde youth that Rill had befriended more than a year ago. From the first time that she had saved him, burning herself severely in the process, Sephiroth had harbored a marginal dislike for the kid, if only because he had inadvertently caused her harm. But over time, when he came down to her family home and saw that he had been there first, Sephiroth concluded that there would be no getting rid of him. Much like there would be no getting rid of Reno or Zack._

 _He looked down at the boy and he spoke as calmly and firmly as he could._

" _If you're going to be around her, as she clearly seems to want you to be, then you're going to be able to protect her to my satisfaction." Cloud paused, then removed his helmet to meet his gaze. And for a change, Sephiroth saw a potential equal in him instead of a necessary nuisance._

" _Then, could I ask you to do the same?" The nerve! Sephiroth's brows snapped down menacingly, but the much smaller, weaker boy spoke on anyway._

" _You can protect her from anyone trying to attack her. But what about when she hurts herself? My Ma always said the person who tried the hardest to keep everyone else happy was usually the loneliest of them all. Miss Rill's got lots of people around her, a lot of friends and a family that care about her. So why is she alone?"_

It had been Cloud's words that made Sephiroth view Rill with slightly different eyes. It had also been that moment when Sephiroth began to teach him in earnest. Because the kid was a good learner and would always try his hardest, even if the task seemed impossible. One could even say he liked him now.

But his words stuck with him throughout his interaction with Rill. She laughed and smiled, and he could see,hear and feel how happy she was. But every so often, he would catch her sitting still and silent and would see a flash of a hunted look blitz across her face. Fear. Something he had decided he didn't like seeing on her.

The only reasonable solution to this problem seemed to be to constantly find some way to remind her that she wasn't alone. A gift that would last a long time seemed to be a good idea.

 _She's already got the bracelet you gave her and she's always wearing it..._ Well, seeing her wear it so consistently did feel good and it was the kind kind of idea he wanted. The constant, ever present reminder... So something similar to that...Another piece of jewelry would be suitable, yet not quite...what he was looking for.

"What reasons are there for giving gifts?" He asked. "In correct social context, that is." This made the older woman start to laugh

"You don't really need that much of a reason to give someone something, Sephiroth. Especially not to people you love."

Part of Sephiroth was already making plans about how to acquire what he had in mind to give to Rill and pondering whether he should just give it to her, or save it for Christmas...

 _Missed her birthday. Give her something now to make up for it and something again on Christmas._ Satisfied with this course of action, Sephiroth pulled out his PHS to research where exactly his desired gift was being held right now. Or rather, where it had last been seen.

Elmyra just watched him with a slightly bemused expression. Judging by the glittering eyes and intent expression, Rill was going to be receiving a very interesting gift very soon. One that may or may not be rather expensive or valuable. Sephiroth really didn't have limits when it came to this sort of thing. She should know. His gift to her last Christmas had been a remodelling of her kitchen. Aeris had gotten saffron crocuses to plant from him. She was extremely curious to see what Sephiroth had in store for her niece/daughter.

-vVv-

"You're getting better all the time." Rill remarked to Cloud as he went through a series of controlled moves with the sword that Sephiroth had judged most suitable for him. A heavy broadsword that was as suited to being wielded one handed as not.

"Thanks." Cloud grunted as he swung, then drew back almost instantly into a parry. "I've still got a long way to go though..."

"Stop putting yourself down." She chided him. "For only having been doing this for a few months, you're already on par with some 2nd Class SOLDIER I know." Cloud gave her a half hearted smile.

"The general seems to think I can do better."

"He's probably right then. He usually is when it comes to fighting." Rill acknowledged. "But in case you haven't noticed, Sephiroth has noticeably higher standards than most when it comes to combat. Or anything really."

"I've noticed." The teen was filling out with repeated visits to Elmyra's table and he was growing like a weed, already standing an inch taller than Rill when he had been shorter only a few months previously. His last call to his mother had taken place in their living room on a day that Rill had taken off in order to celebrate his birthday. Speaking to her had brought about the revelation that he hadn't wanted to tell anyone in his hometown about failing to make it into SOLDIER. But he was pleased and a little proud to tell his mother that he was being trained by Sephiroth. Rill had resisted the almost uncontrollable urge to giggle with Mrs Strife proved she was in fact a somewhat typical woman and asked...

 _What was it exactly?_

 _She asked: "Are General Sephiroth's abs really that defined, or is it photoshop?"_ Aeris helpfully supplied, still laughing at their friend's embarrassment. The general himself had come into the house, having long since passed the point where he knocked upon arrival and he had overheard the question.

 _To which Sephiroth says...?_

" _I can safely guarantee that they are authentic, ma'am." And then Cloud's mom spends about five seconds fangirling before she calms down and invites Sephiroth to dinner if he's ever in the area as thanks for looking after Cloud._

 _And all the while, Cloud looks like he's trying to melt into the floor._ Rill snickered as she watched the blonde continue to work. _Priceless. I what I would do to keep some video footage of that, or the last time Zack was on a sugar high..._

She felt a flicker of something vaguely pink and girly from her cousin and the Cetra glared at thin air.

 _You cannot be be serious. Zack on a sugar high is about as attractive as a cockatrice in drag._ She felt something that might have been apology and a coo come from her cousin, still in the church tending the garden. Rill had started for home, only to meet Cloud on the way.

 _I can't help it. He's like a little kid!_ She couldn't believe this...

 _He's like that normally! When he's in a sugar rush, it's as though half of hell possesses him!_

Aeris meekly tried to defend her crush. She had been privy to Rill's thoughts almost constantly throughout the last dozen or so instances when she had had to clean up after him and deal with his energy.

 _He's not that bad..._

 _You've never been serenaded by him while he's downing helium._

 _...He's sung to you before?_ Rill rubbed her eyes wearily. Aeris had it bad. It was official now.

 _Merciful Goddess, you are hopeless._

"Hey Cloud, I'm sure you're not done with your exercises yet, but Auntie is a little bothered whenever you come to the table reeking of sweat. Could you cut off and pick up again later?" Cloud paused.

"Yeah. I guess..." He sheathed the sword carefully, but Rill could see he was already very familiar with the blade. She considered him for a moment as he gratefully drank the water she offered him.

"Given how you've improved, are you planning on trying for SOLDIER again?" It was the only semi reasonable way that Cloud could get the training time he needed. He had improved to the point where an hour or so on his free evenings in her backyard wouldn't be enough if he wanted to keep progressing. While he remained an infantry, he had regular city patrols and missions to fulfill. If he were a SOLDIER, then there would be personalized training time for the sword and magic built into his schedule instead of drill work and target practice.

"Dunno." Cloud dumped the remains of the water bottle onto his head. "I got a good pay raise from that mission in June, and Ma's got enough now to buy fuel for the winter..." And there went his biggest motivation for becoming a SOLDIER. The prestige had lost a bit of the allure since he had heard Zack bemoan about the woes of paperwork, collateral damage, pay deduction to account for said collateral damage and the sometimes unrealistic and bizarre missions that he had been given. And the needles. Zack did not like the needles. Rill smiled at him as she threw a towel at his face.

"Don't stress too much about it then. I think you'd make the cut if you tried again with how much you've grown. Zack would be over the moon if you did join up. But, on the other hand, then you wouldn't have a reliable excuse to avoid him if you're not up to dealing with him." Cloud snorted, toweling off his wet, but still unruly blonde hair.

"He's already said that he's taking me as a student if I do go for SOLDIER again. But isn't that favoritism?"

"Not if you make it plain that you worked to get where you are." She replied blithely as they all headed inside.

"I just don't want to get cocky." He confided in her. "I don't think I could stand trying and failing..."

"There's a line between arrogance and confidence, Cloud. You can tell where you stand by whether you smile or smirk when you perform well."

-vVv-

Rill shrugged herself into her coat.

There was a bit of a cold snap hitting Midgar's usually temperate climate so she had found herself using a coat more and more often.

There came a knock on her door.

Opening it revealed the now familiar face of Reno who was holding a package and looking like Dark Nation after eating an entire prime rib.

"Do I want to know?" She asked warily as he offered her the box.

"Someone's gonna be really hurt if you don't take it." Judging by his expression, it was either something he had been anticipating for some time, or a prank.

"Would that someone be you?" His smile became a little fixed.

"Oh yeah. If only 'cause I'm dead if you don't get it, yo." Rill shrugged and took the box inside to investigate, aware that Reno was inviting himself in after her. He usually did nowadays.

The package was fairly large and had some weight to it. She set it down to open it pulling aside the packaging to reveal...

A coat.

A very nice, long coat.

 _Leather. Someone sent me a leather coat._

The hem was divided in back and reached to about her knees. The top was meant to seal together and leave her legs mobile. It was colored a deep blue, almost black. And as she ran her hands over the chest area...

"Is this reinforced?" She asked, somewhat surprised. "Oh, and hands off the cookie jar." She heard a scuffle.

"Damnit, how do you do that?!"

"Practice. Answer please?"

"Yeah it's reinforced." Reno came up beside her and flicked the sleeve sharply. "It ain't full scale body armor. But it's gonna be a lot better than walking 'round in this, yo." He plucked at her old, noticeably thinner and lighter jacket. She turned towards him.

"Who sent this?" The redhead looked at her flatly.

"Seriously?" She returned his deadpan without hesitation.

"Yes."

"Seph did. Something about missing out on your birthday."

"This is dragonhide leather! Off a blue dragon no less!" The treatments that must have been necessary to keep the material stable at normal temperatures when the dragon usually lived in frigid climates...

"Correctamundo, Rill! Hot or cold, your boss is looking out for ya! This thing won't ever get too hot, cause it's off a blue dragon, and it's lined with some top notch stuff too! Oceanus hide and lava spider silk!" _Both of which are hellishly expensive materials as well!_

"You're saying I could walk around literally inside a volcano wearing this and not overheat and then get chucked into the tundra and not freeze?"

"Yep!" The Turk gave her a foxy grin. "Toldja I'd get you into leather someday, babe." She felt neither guilt nor hesitation about slugging him in the shoulder as hard as she could.

"Stop it. I can't go around wearing this on a day to day basis!" The unusual material aside, she would be all but Sephiroth's twin in this when he wore his combat gear!

(In all actuality, he would have preferred something a little less ostentatious, but given how much of a public icon he was, understatement wasn't something he had been raised on. He usually had a regular set of clothes that he wore underneath, but his shirts had a mysterious habit of disappearing and Rill hadn't quite been able to pinpoint the thieves. There were too many of them.)

"Why not?" Reno asked, twisting a finger in his ear as he leaned against her counter. "It's a nice coat, and it's not like you're suddenly gonna become a badass just cause you're wearing some new rags." He deftly dodged her attempt to kick him in the shin, but missed her sneaking a deft chop to his kidney. He gagged as the pain assaulted his senses and his lax position stumbled as he almost fell, and was caught by Rill as her Cure materia lit up as she swiftly repaired the damage, letting him lean on her comfortably.

"Us kids dun' get badass." She said, slipping into her street cant comfortably. He grinned and finished the phrase.

"We're born this way, yo!"

-vVv-

She still let Reno talk her into wearing the coat.

 _Why does it make me feel cool to have a swishing hem? Cause it really does._

 _Maybe that's why Sephiroth kept the coat?_ Aeris offered, sound as though she was trying not to laugh.

There was a good bit of murmuring in her wake and several people had complimented her on her new look. Reno had deliberately stepped on the feet of about three of the more forward of her admirers.

It took an inordinate amount of self control not to preen a little bit at how pleased Sephiroth was when he saw her wearing it.

 _I found it!_ Aeris's sudden shout made Rill jump slightly, her signature getting smudged.

 _Found what?_

 _The cure! I found how they drove Jenova out of living beings without killing them! We can cure Genesis!_ Rill's breath caught in her throat, hope swelling until she couldn't speak.

 _What do we need and how is it done?_

 _The White Materia, contact with him. Or at the very least, proximity. And a lot of power._ Aeris' voice cut off briefly before she continued in a somewhat more subdued tone. _It...would take a while because neither of us really has the raw power that we need to keep Jenova from kicking us out and trying to take him over completely._

 _But if we dosed up on enough magical restoratives, or had someone on hand to keep him down while we recover-_

 _Then we can save him._ Her heart was pounding erratically as she gazed at her hands.

Cure Genesis of his degradation and he would no longer be pressured to stay with Hollander in his pissing contest with Hojo. He could leave the fight like Angeal if he wanted, or he could find some other way of employing his skills if he would rather retire. It still left the problem of his wounded pride and rivalry with Sephiroth, but without Jenova whispering in his head, Rill hoped, prayed, that Genesis could be reasoned with and there would be some alternative solution to continued fighting...

 _You know, I think he'd drop the rivalry like a hot potato if you just went out with him..._

 _No._ Not until she got an explicit confirmation that it wouldn't somehow get Aeris killed. The cost was too high. She'd rather spend her life single than well and truly alone.

 _Denial is not just a river in Wutai, cuz~_

 _It's name is De'niara!_

-vVv-

He was dying.

Genesis could see it, feel it drawing a little closer every day.

He found more grey hair every day. His skills were getting sloppy and it was getting harder and harder to maintain control of his spells.

 _I can't die like this..._ he thought furiously, forcing himself not to pace like a caged animal. _I have to live and go back to her..._ It was becoming a more appealing option by the day to just go and retrieve Rill from Midgar. Just so he could spend what time he had left with her.

 _It would harm her!_ He thought, snarling furiously. _It almost killed her last time!_ No, he couldn't go back to Rill, nor could he have some clones bring her to him. Not until this...flaw in his makeup was fixed.

That and he risked losing everything that had been between them if something wasn't done. They would have needed to sit down and talk even before AVALANCHE had almost committed the single biggest mistake of their life. Only the action of AVALANCHE's leader, Elfe had kept Genesis from killing them all in his frustration at finally getting his chance to talk to Rill only for Sephiroth swoop in and interrupt again!

Hollander had gotten taken hostage and Genesis had most unwillingly handed Fuhito over in exchange for the man. It had taken some fierce internal debate over whether or not dealing out retribution to the two faced, unscrupulous piece of filth for daring to entertain the thought of hurting Rill. But in the end, Genesis had decided. He needed to be cured, that was why Hollander was still alive.

In theory.

 _Useless waste of space._ Genesis thought irritably. He had given Hollander everything he needed in order to cure him. And there hadn't been anything in response to that. He had gotten him a secure facility, he had kept him alive, he had secured him as many specimens to turn into clones as he had requested.

And here he was, without friends or home, losing strength and sanity, and running the very real risk of losing Rill altogether. And with no cure in sight.

 _Was it worth it?_ He wondered, not for the first time. _Was it really worth just up and leaving and burning all the bridges behind me?_

Sephiroth had been his friend once...Maybe he was still his friend in some small way. But that was before Rill had become a factor.

Angeal...Angeal had chosen not to join him. Had left him alone.

His division had chosen to follow him onto this venture. More than half were already dead and the rest were dying even more rapidly than he was. Even those who hadn't been turned into clones.

 _Am I going to see everything I thought I was burn?_

 _Dreams of the morrow hath shattered the soul,_

 _Pride is lost,_

 _Wings stripped away. The end is nigh._

No...He refused.

For that very reason, Rill must stay alive and well. He had to go back to her and protect her. But to do that, he had to be cured first so he wouldn't be a threat to her.

But he had waited long enough.

Hollander was getting nervous ever since his little wake up call. Since he had been taken hostage by AVALANCHE.

The change had been gradual. Over the course of the weeks of building up his forces, Genesis had started to see cracks in Hollander's confidence. Even after Lazard had shown up. That had made Hollander furious. Apparently, the former director of the SOLDIER program was his best, read; only, inside man left inside the company.

" _Everything in security is being overhauled after AVALANCHE went for Miss Thomas. I wouldn't have lasted another week." Hollander was sweating and gnawing on his thumb, a childish habit that was simply disgusting in a grown man. The scientist didn't look at Genesis, but the ex-SOLDIER could see that he was suddenly a lot more tense than he had been before and his weight was shifted to get away from him..._

Now that he had spotted it, Genesis was seeing it more and more. This pathetic house of straw that Hollander had built and tried to convince Genesis that it was a prison. The slob wouldn't have been able to do even a fraction as much of what he had done if Genesis hadn't assisted him and given him the manpower!

And given the lack of progress for a cure to his degradation...

Genesis glanced at two of his men standing guard outside of Hollander's main lab and gestured sharply. They saluted and left without a backwards glance. He heard them speaking softly to a few more men that were coming down the hall and knew that now he and Hollander would have a nice, long, private discussion with no chance of being interrupted...

He drew Rapier, felt its red crystal blade hum in response to his will.

Genesis was weakening, but he still was more than strong enough to knock the flimsy door off of it's hinges and smash it to kindling as he entered, sword lit with a menacing red glow.

Interrogations were rarely, if ever, a clean affair and in every piece of literature he had ever read or seen in film and on the stage, it was the villain who proved the most effective at getting vital information out of the victims that he ruthlessly dominated.

 _I am the villain now. And if that is the case, then I may as well act the part._

-vVv-

Hojo laughed as he looked between the two samples he was comparing. He cackled, he roared. If he were a monster, he would be howling with triumph and delight.

One was his past record of the Ancient that was being held nearby until she was somewhat more grown. The other was from the effective head of the SOLDIER department and the woman who held Sephiroth's interest.

And they both had tested positive for Ancient DNA.

He couldn't have planned this better if he had tried.


	24. Christmas, Christmas time is here

Sephiroth would forever deny it, but Rill had proof!

He sang along to Christmas carols! She had it on video!

"I should have known better than to think Zack could come up with a tasteful idea..." Her disgruntled boss groused under his breath while she snickered gleefully. _Auntie will definitely appreciate this!_

This year's holiday would see their cheerful little group growing once more. Cloud and Zack had officially been invited to join their celebration and Elmyra was cooking enough food to account for Reno as well.

" _I'm her bodyguard, yo! What if the wrapping paper turns out to be some kind of...paper monster!"_ Yeah, he was just in it for the food and nobody was fooled. But no one really minded anyway.

"On the contrary, this has been brilliant for moral company wide." Rill said pleasantly transferring a copy of the file onto a spare memory stick and creating several backups on her phone. While far from a computer ninja, Sephiroth had the completely unfair ability to use internet tutorials to learn how to do just about anything perfectly on his first try.

"Please tell me you didn't just upload that..."

"You think I'd just hand out a piece of blackmail this good? Please, I know better than that." Time had restored their old friendship to where it had been before her abduction and more.

"And you like me too much to cruelly tear my reputation to shreds like that."

"That and I have much, much better material than you singing." She said, grinning and shooting a wink at him as she plopped a red Santa cap onto his head. It looked ridiculous with his hair.

The weeks leading up to the holiday had needed some adjustment, given that she had taken on Lazard's duties without actually being made department head. But once she had multiple people handling troubleshooting for the other squads, and she was left with only Zack officially since Reno was still shadowing her, Rill had adapted to the workload.

A complete security check, which had still taken several months to finish, had caught onto some questionable messages and information passed from Lazard to an unknown recipient. The Turks were looking into it and had found some evidence that suggested Lazard and Hollander were working together on something.

 _Hollander was in it for a rivalry with Hojo. So what did he do to get Lazard to back him?_ With this being revealed, Rill was all but certain that Genesis had been deliberately isolated even after he had received his wound in order to pressure him into deserting.

 _And Jenova couldn't have helped by leaning on those insecurities..._

"Rill?" She glanced at Sephiroth who was standing in the door, getting a refill of his tea. "Something wrong?"

"Not really, why?"

"You were fingering your bangle you only ever do that when you're thinking hard about something." She quickly moved her hand away, slightly embarrassed.

"Just trying to think how to keep Zack from waking us up at the crack of dawn for presents..."

"I should think some of the emergency sedative would be suited to the task."

"He achieved immunity to all three in his first year in the program..." He came closer and looked over her shoulder at the options that she had been considering before getting side tracked by Genesis.

"Isn't that against regulations?"

"It was Donovan who had him as a 3rd Class." Rill reported. "You know, the one who got fired last year for misconduct."

"Ah yes, he was the one who followed the standard practice to the point that it became restrictive and counterproductive to those in his care..." Sephiroth reached over her and began to scroll through her compilation of emergency actions. (Reason: Zack, subsection: Excess energy/needs sleep.)

"Your filing system has to be one of the most amusing things I've seen around here..." Rill pushed some long strands of silver hair out of her face as it fell over her. Sephiroth was quite literally looming over her and it was starting to bother her...

"Really? Some of the clerks are complaining about how long the file names get because I don't use their number system."

"And the rest of us peons who are not familiar with the nuances of the clerk conspiracy system thank you a thousand times over and then some." Rill shook her head as some of Sephiroth's obscenely long hair fell over her face again and she had to pull it out of her mouth to speak.

"Sephiroth, have you ever considered putting your hair up or something?" He paused, still looking at her computer screen over her head.

"Occasionally. Why do you ask?" She looked up at him, craning her neck in an impressive display of contortionism to meet his gaze.

"Because I'm eating it and as amazing and impressive as it looks, it doesn't taste good." He seemed almost surprised to see her as he looked down at her.

"My apologies." He said slowly, pushing his hair to rest over his other shoulder, away from her face.

He still didn't move from where he was standing as he went back to perusing the list of options Rill had compiled for getting Zack to take a chill pill for a while.

Rill was feeling inexplicably flushed as he stayed near her

-vVv-

The plan they finally developed was as follows:

First: The evening before Christmas day, invite all parties down into Sector 5.

Second: Introduce Zack to the slum children, with Aeris or Rill there as an intermediary until he wins them over. (The SOLDIER reputation can be quite intimidating, even if the locals have gotten used to seeing Sephiroth come and go casually.)

Third: Once the children+Puppy are playing, cast Ice to create a large quantity of snow in the playground area and around the Christmas Tree.

Fourth: Monitor carefully and ensure Zack only consumes minimal amounts of sugar/caffeine.

Conclusion: Zack's boundless energy aside, there are more than twenty children who will be in attendance for the celebrations the previous evening. Through sheer numbers, he will eventually be run down and unable to wake up before six am on Christmas Morning, ensuring a pleasant holiday for the entire slum as the children will have been exhausted as well.

"Zack's from Gongaga, it's a tropical climate, how will this draw him into a prolonged snowball fight when he has little experience with cold weather activities? Midgar's normal climate cannot support snow for a prolonged period either so the slum inhabitants will be as ill informed as he is." _Sephiroth is good at playing the devil's advocate. That or he preferred the idea of just tying Zack up in a straightjacket and gagging him in order to get a full night's sleep. Who knows?_

"Playing in snow isn't something that you need to be taught. It's a universal truth of childhood. I've already had plenty of kids come and ask me to create a snowbank for them this year as well, so we're not starting from scratch. Zack is first and foremost a child at heart. And a competitive one at that. One snowball to the back of his head, and we'll have him."

They had been discussing this over lunch. Whenever Rill was in the office with Sephiroth was the only time that Reno would take a break from his bodyguard duties.

" _Nobody's so desperate to get their hands on you that they'd go up against Seph, yo."_

"Is there anyone with experience in this area?" Sephiroth's eyes were glinting with amusement. Apparently he thought it just as funny as she that they were actually having this conversation in a semi serious context. She bit her tongue to keep from laughing and composed herself before she answered.

"Cadet Strife is a native from the Nibel Mountains and has generously offered his assistance in this regard. I will be collaborating with him on the proper density, spread and quantity of the snow to be provided." Her usual 'work voice' was a touch too refined and snooty to actually be believable. That and it was rather difficult not to laugh.

"Very good, Miss Thomas." He nodded gravely. "I shall leave the rest of the preparations in your capable hands." She couldn't help it. Rill burst out laughing in the middle of the thankfully deserted hallway.

Why this was so funny, she couldn't say. Maybe it was just the effect that Zack had on any plan that involved him. It would almost inevitably end up becoming utterly ridiculous for all parties involved!

Thing was, she couldn't imagine it being this funny if it weren't Sephiroth that she was having this discussion with. Said man was currently smirking down at her.

"I believe that means I win." She swatted the silver haired man's arm with all the effect of a kitten trying to chastise Dark Nation.

"No fair...It'll take me at least an hour to get back into character."

"I find it difficult to believe that you still think that people are taken in at all by your charade." Rill composed herself, still grinning.

"The mask isn't the point, Sephiroth. At this point, it's more like...defining who I am friends with and who're still business acquaintances, and nothing more."

"By that definition..." He mused, eyeing her as they entered their office space. "You are 'friends' with your family, myself, Zack, Cloud and Reno."

"Well you got most of them." She admitted. He had missed Angeal and Genesis, but that was hardly surprising. He had never really seen her interact with them outside of work. She'd also call Tseng her friend with little hesitation. Other Turks...they were closer to acquaintance than friend, but they knew about her two personas. It was a Turk technique after all. Divide your true self from your work self. It was a coping mechanism to avoid having their work haunt them persistently.

Reno was unusual in that respect because his two 'faces' didn't have as many differences between them.

Rill paused on the threshold of her office, the hair prickling on the back of her neck. It wasn't danger, but a warning all the same...

She activated her Infrared materia and scanned the room carefully.

There was a man sized and shaped figure standing in one corner of the office. She blinked, letting her heat vision go, then calling it back.

 _Huh. Weird. Kinda cool too._ Rill went to her desk and picked up a pen, throwing it at the cloaked figure, using her Infrared materia to send it right at his forehead.

"What the hell!" Reno's voice burst out. "This is a top of the line, prototype cloak! How did you know!?"

"Who else but you would be crazy enough to try to pull something like this when Sephiroth is literally speaking distance away?" Reno ducked out from under a thin film of camouflage with an unrepentant shrug that quickly became an irritated, suspicious glower.

"You're sure you're not psychic or something?" She raised her brows at him and pointed.

"Carpet was dipped where you were standing." It was something that she noticed was a persistent flaw in most any cloaking device Research and Development came up with. It wasn't capable of altering the surrounding terrain to conceal someone's presence, just the person themselves.

Reno grumbled as he crumbled the flimsy sheeting up, the delicate material crinkling noisily.

 _If it's that easy to see him in infrared..._ Rill came over and inspected the material.

It was light and felt like sheet plastic. But there was also a distinct amount of heat coming off of it. More than just Reno's body heat should have generated.

"How much heat does this give off?" Reno's brow was a little sweaty under his aviator's goggles, which he still wore constantly.

"Not much, yo. Was originally supposed to be a emergency blanket for troops stationed in cold weather but they found a frequency of sub-Mako waves that acts like camouflage." Normal Mako was actually somewhat radioactive. The native Lifestream inside every living being was set at a much slower pace, which wasn't as harmful, even if it didn't allow for swift recovery from an injury.

"So they decided to adapt it into an invisibility cloak? Terrible for night time reconnaissance or any situation where you'd have infrared."

"S'just a prototype, yo." Reno said stretching and bundling the last bits up. "They let me borrow it to try it out around the building." Rill raised her brows.

"When you say borrow..."

"Hey, hey! I asked straight, I didn't just take it!" He said defensively. _Which means that there's only one option left._

"So that means you asked one of your old flames in R&D to play with the new toy." Reno squawked indignantly.

"Ok, seriously! You're totally psychic, yo!"

"Oh don't shove that on my having extra sensory perception. You're just predictable."

-vVv-

Sephiroth went out and got another tree for Sector 5. Throughout the last year, people had been coming and cutting off lower branches so it was a far cry from the massive, dignified tree it had once been. It wasn't completely bare. But it...looked incomplete, full of holes, most definitely damaged. Or perhaps crippled was the right word.

"Don't cut it down." Aeris said, smiling up at the bedraggled pine. "We can still do something with this."

Rill chuckled, seeing the twinkle of something eager in her cousin's eyes.

-vVv-

Rill was inspecting the belt with special compartments for easy materia switching. Sephiroth's gift to her this year. Every year, the family opened one gift Christmas Eve, instead of waiting until morning. It was capable of holding upwards of two dozen materia. _As if I would ever collect that many._ Supposedly thief proof. She could definitely see just how it would be challenging to swipe materia from it in a hurry. But if it was meant for quick switching then there would be an easy way to remove it. She probed along the casing carefully, eyes narrowed as she searched for the catch around the green glow that signaled it's materia. It just had to be done-

The materia emerged from the slot with an almost liquid glide, passing through a seemingly much smaller space than it should have been able to fill. Rill's brows shot up.

There was a metal that could accept the space warping effect of materia without channeling magic. It was just fairly obscure and largely considered useless because it couldn't be used to cast.

 _Interesting thought._

"This isn't another commission is it?" She asked Sephiroth as Aeris schooled Zack and Reno in cards. Cloud was helping with the kitchen work, drawn towards the natural maternal aura that Elmyra gave off.

"It is. But not of the same scale as the bangle." He replied, looking very pleased with himself. "I got the idea from Genesis since he always complained about not being able to carry his materia with him safely without risking someone stealing it."

"He had an eight slot and Rapier could carry another six." Rill said flatly. "Why would he need that many materia? Just wearing it is a hit on your stamina." The mention of Genesis, oddly enough, didn't hurt. It was just mentioning him in passing. Nothing heavy or serious about it.

"He was used to it. When you get up to 1st Class, you usually are. That and we were both so far above average in our performance that even if we went into battle stocked to the gills with materia, we could still almost effortlessly outdo our opponents." Rill hummed, replacing her Tremor-sense materia into it's slot. _I suppose I can't complain about having extra, secure, carrying space. I have another fusion idea I want to try._

There wasn't a materia, as far as most anyone knew, that could induce blindness, even though there were many monsters that could achieve that effect through a combination of natural chemicals and things such as sand or dust. But her curiosity was piqued. If you could magically poison someone through use of a Bio materia, then shouldn't there be a materia that caused someone's vision to be obscured in the same way?

It was just a thought and she was meditating on the possible combinations.

Aeris yanked her to her feet, eyes dancing.

"Time to water the flowers!" _I have an idea!_

Rill let herself be towed out of the house, listening to her cousin speak excitedly about this new development.

 _The reason plants don't grow here is because of the Mako reactors sucking the Lifestream away from the soil. But once there's enough plants growing in a certain area, they produce their own Lifestream that isn't extractable!_

Rill considered this.

 _So instead of just drawing from a common water table, you're talking about applying a terraforming technique to the Lifestream in order to start bringing life back into the area._

 _Yes!_

Aeris had amassed a collection of pine cones from their tree and was intending on planting them. And she had ambitions that went much further, but had never been realized. But then she got word that a newcomer into the Sector 4 slums, hailing from the outskirts of Kalm's agriculture area, had brought along a beehive to keep up on his favorite hobby. And Aeris had managed to talk to him, and he would be bringing it by their gardens in order to produce honey to sell for some spare cash. Aeris' main idea was to use his contacts to gather more seeds and start a whole forest park. But before she could do that, she needed to find out how her gift for flowers translated to trees.

 _Of course I'll help._ Rill thought with a sigh. _We'll just have to be careful not to make everything grow too fast..._

-vVv-

Elmyra watched as her two girls put their heads together, figurativelyspeaking. Not a word was said between them, but she could clearly see the wordless communication that flowed between them.

It frightened her sometimes. Seeing how easily and effortlessly her daughters would fall into the wider world of their heritage.

" _You daughter is special, Mrs Gainsborough."_ That was what the older gentleman had said upon his arrival shortly after Aeris had come to her. After she had informed her mother that her husband had been killed in combat. She hadn't believed her until the news came about a week later.

The instances had dwindled to almost nothing after the Turks began to linger close by. Aeris grew her flowers, a much smaller amount than the bountiful foliage she now tended, and she attended the semi formal school run by a retired teacher. But that tiny little spark, that air of something mysterious that had intrigued Elmyra upon first laying eyes on her, was dwindling...

The Rill had come into their lives. And the same aura that followed Aeris was coming off of her.

And together, they blossomed.

Almost the entire sector thought there was something otherworldly about the two flower girls. The way life bloomed wherever they went. The light that followed them as if they cast it like a shadow.

She was unsurprised the next morning, well before Rill had claimed she would be ready to rise and face the day, that the girls were out by the first pine tree that General Sephiroth had brought to their home. It seemed as though the prickly branches went out of their way to avoid scratching them and though she could barely make out the trunk...

She could see a faint glow wherever they laid their hands.

 _Yes, they're my girls..._ Elmyra thought, smiling with a familiar current of worrying rising in her chest to clutch at her throat. _But there's so much about them that I don't understand..._

-vVv-

Rill blamed Aeris for everything.

 _You're glad you helped me and you know it._

 _I wanted to sleep! Do you have any idea how rare a commodity sleep is with Zack within a thirty food radius?_

Aeris had gotten the hairbrained scheme into her head to go out and see if they couldn't start branches growing again to fix the formerly full tree's figure.

She wasn't sure if they had succeeded, but there had definitely been a tiny but of growth on a formerly ragged stub.

 _Sephiroth went and got us another tree!_ She was very close to whining at her cousin as she burrowed under her blankets. Using so much magic yesterday to power an Ice materia was showing by her being unusually cold today, the memories of a forgotten past still lingering in her mind.

 _The poor tree was hurting and sad. We made it better. End of story._

Rill groaned and tried to deny the growing light outside. She only had a little more time before-

There came a rapid knocking at her door.

"Riiilll! Rill c'mon it's Christmas morning, let's go!"

-vVv-

As expected, Christmas with Zack was a noisy affair. Reno did his part to add to the chaos as well, somehow managing to out-eat even the SOLDIER's heightened metabolism at dinner. All throughout the day, one or the other of the magic users conjured up some snow. In the ensuing wars, Cloud reigned supreme as the snow ball champion and in the process, dethroned Zack as the kid's favorite person.

The black haired SOLDIER was still pouting about it when Sephiroth touched Rill on the shoulder and motioned her outside.

"There is something else I got for you." He explained once they stood on the porch.

"You shouldn't have. The belt is more than enough." He looked at her, not even the slightest bit embarrassed. More like he was asking: 'Yes, and?'

"But I wanted to give you more." Rill tried to resist the urge to facepalm, and failed.

"That's fine Sephiroth. Really..." _You are a giant dork. It's like talking to a little kid sometimes..._

Aeris wasn't long in pouncing on the comment.

 _Little kids don't make you blush like that~_

 _Shut up and flirt with Zack._

 _Yes ma'am!_

Sephiroth offered her a small dark box covered in velvet and Rill looked at it a little bewildered for a moment before her mind woke up and she took it.

 _Chill out. It's not an engagement ring. There's no way it can possibly be that. No way in Hades, hellfire or the Lifestream!_

She heard a faint crash from inside and knew that Aeris was probably peeking from behind the curtains. Not even the distraction of Zack would make her miss an opportunity like this!

Rill didn't wait, her nerves wouldn't hold out if she did, and flicked open the hinged lid.

 _Oh._ She relaxed when she saw the deep red gleam without the smooth crystal. _Just a summon materia._ Then she blinked and gawked at what she held, eyes wide. _A summon materia!?_

"It's nothing that will really change the course of a large scale fight." Sephiroth informed her. "It's primarily a defensive or evasive summon, but it will protect you." _Because it's imperative that a summon be able to flatten mountains, of course._ Sometimes she worried about how the war had affected Sephiroth's perspective of the world...

"You got me a summon...?" Rill asked weakly, still struggling to comprehend this.

Shinra had an arsenal of materia that it handed out to its armed forces, including the powerful, crystal bound memories of the Eidolons from a long gone era when her people were still a nation. But they were loaned out. Personally owning a summon...

The ability for people to call on the magical avatars themselves had long since faded from the human race, and Rill had no idea if she or Aeris could manage to call on one of them given their Cetra heritage. But typically, the materia were more than enough.

Over time and use, the materia grew more powerful and gained more of it's own personality. They were merely imprints, or reflections of the being that had first given them shape. But just because the first Eidolons were long gone didn't mean that the materia they left behind were merely tools. It was more like each materia contained a unique being, a descendant of the original.

As such, summons were exponentially rarer than magic materia and about a hundred times more difficult to cast effectively! You had to bond with a summon, coerce, negotiate, and get along with them before you could cast them. The more they liked you, the easier they were to summon and the longer you could sustain the casting .

Genesis had a few summons for when he needed wider scale destruction that his Firaga spells could cause. Sephiroth had an aspect of Bahamut that he was bonding with, though from what she heard, he had rarely used it, and a splinter of Shiva that he had acquired while in Wutai. Angeal had one Titan summon.

The three wealthiest and most powerful warriors in the world owned about five of the red-orange materia between them. That was the kind of rarity Rill had always ascribed to summons.

She traced her fingers over the ruby hued crystal, calling hesitantly to the spirit that was preserved within it.

She heard something like an eagle's shriek and a lion's coughing roar.

"What...Who is it?" She corrected herself, resting her hand on the surprisingly warm surface.

"I'm told it's called Griffin." Rill focused somewhat and called to the summon.

 _Is that true?_

She took the short call in answer as an affirmative.

 _Griffin...What is your purpose?_ Every summon had a goal in mind, something that shaped the way in which it used it's power. Most of the more well known summons, Bahamut, Shiva and Ifrit, were well known because they were battle summons. Eidolons that excelled in combative use. But there were also gentler summons. For example, Choco/Mog was primarily something to protect children without frightening them. She had heard Legends that the Wutain people used their chief Lleviathan summon and the seeds that they possessed some time ago before the rise of the mechanical age, to gain control of the world's oceans, allowing their boats to reign supreme in trade and keep any unwanted visitors from making land. It was something that the advanced design of submarines and machine powered boats had rendered almost obsolete.

The impression she got in answer was more akin to a story.

 _A man had come to a mountain where the Eidolon nested and asked for his help._

 _He had been called away to wage war, but would have been forced to leave many precious things behind, including his young wife. He was concerned for her safety, but every man that he trusted to protect her was going to war right alongside him. There was no escaping this conscription, every man had to obey. So he was compromising and asking a nonhuman, someone who wasn't beholden to obey a king or ruler, for aid in this matter._

 _Griffin agreed to do so under the condition that he test how determined he was to protect his mate._

 _Griffin was then defeated by the man, who never even once touched a weapon in their fight._

Rill digested the story as quickly as she was able, blinking away Griffin's recollection of how the man's frustration and ferocity had touched him and won his respect in a way that had permanently changed how he viewed the world.

He was a protector of one's most treasured possessions.

 _But I..._ What Rill valued most were her family and friends. And they, or some of them anyway, were much more capable of guarding her and her aunt and sister than she was.

She got the impression that Griffin was laughing at her as he repeated his story, this time putting more emphasis on the reason the man had been so savage in the battle. _His wife. I got that._

Then she got the same, distinct rippling through the Lifestream that it used to speak about Sephiroth.

She connected the dots in a flash and flushed deeply.

 _But he...I'm not!_

The summon was of the opinion that Rill was what was most important to Sephiroth, which was why he had decided to allow his materia to come into the man's possession.

 _There's no way..._

"Rill?" She had the mental image of Griffin ruffling his feathers and cocking his head to listen to Sephiroth as she looked up at him. He looked... uncertain for a change. Like he wasn't sure if he had done the right thing or not.

"I..I don't know what to say. This..." She gazed at what she held, glowing like a live coal in her hand. "This is..." She shook her head. "You are spoiling me...What did you do to get this?"

"It was being hoarded by some dragons, nothing really major."

 _It's the draconic breeding season though..._ meaning they would have been about five times as dangerous as normal. And he was just looking...nonchalant.

 _Ok. Once again, Sephiroth proves he does not have a normal perspective on danger. The war definitely did something to him...But I can't tell if it's good or bad._

"Thank you..." Rill lifted the materia and slotted it into her bangle, feeling Griffin's presence appear in her mind. "I'll always treasure him." She smiled up at him and was rewarded when he returned it, looking more human than she had ever seen him in a chunky sweater that Elmyra had knitted for him. He lifted his hand and with a flare of magic, some snow started to fall around them.

"You've been wearing yourself down all day making the snow, so I don't think you ever got to really enjoy it..." He said in answer to her questioning look. Rill chuckled and turned out towards the dark night, flecked now with gleaming white snow.

It was quiet on the porch, serene as they watched the snowfall together by the railing...

The moment was ruined by a yelp from inside as Elmyra dragged Aeris and Zack away from the window, her voice lifted in chastisement.

But the peace was replaced with laughter as they went back inside, Sephiroth having casually manhandled Rill to keep her from bringing some snowballs back inside to pelt the would-be eavesdroppers with.


	25. Angels and Demons

Rill was conflicted as she read the news report.

One the one hand, it wasn't good that AVALANCHE had attacked Shinra employees.

On the other, Hojo was injured and would be out of commission for several months. The tense humming that had always been flirting on the edge of her conscious had eased into something more serene now and it was a weight off of her shoulders that she hadn't even been aware she was carrying.

 _Tseng came by._ Aeris informed her. _He asked me to come in again..._ Rill breathed out through her nose. She already knew what her cousin would have said.

 _And?_

 _I said no. He knows why. He's just trying to keep me from being brought in against my will._ People had been trying to persuade Aeris to come willingly to Shinra for the last six years. It likely would have been happening much earlier, but some few moral individuals had protested this action against a child. The initial attempts had been much more dramatic, more like posturing and threats. It had involved Elmyra chasing the offenders off of her property with a rolling pin for trying to pressure a child. The Turk were unwilling to to take any action against the protective mother since it would only damage Aeris' amiability. Then Tseng had been put in charge of her security and he had changed tac, opting for a more persuasive method, which was much preferred by all parties.

She thanked the Goddess every day that people still assumed that Rill's relation to the family was to Elmyra and not Aeris. Otherwise, she'd be getting visitors into the office, inviting her down to the Science Department for a mandatory exam.

 _He's a good friend._ Rill mused to her cousin, regarding the part Wutian.

 _Mmhm. I'd say you and Reno are closer though._ She glanced at the couch in her office, currently being occupied by the lanky, completely unconscious Turk.

He stole her food, and Sephiroth's, just for the thrill of being chased. He liked to see if he could fly the helicopter upside down or in loop de loops, or blindfolded. He had a personal record distance of squirting milk out of his nose. He liked to crawl around in the spacious Shinra air ducts and had on multiple occasions fallen asleep within them. He was almost the sole accomplice whenever Zack did something bizarre and he had a list of 427 specific items, and 24 general categories, that he was forbidden from using, touching or even looking at under any but the most extreme of circumstances.

He was someone who was always ready to come to her defense without reservation. He was a slum kid, like her, who knew where she had come from. He taught her basic self defense, even though his only technical job was to be her bodyguard. He was funny even if he was a pain in the butt sometimes.

 _I guess so._ He was kinda like a brother she had never had. The super annoying, teeth grinding one that took stupid dares and tried to drag you into every scheme he got up to because it would be more fun with you.

 _Are you ever gonna tell him about being a Cetra?_ Aeris inquired. _I really think he'd keep it quiet and not care one way or the other._ Rill had considered letting Reno in on her secret. But it was almost second nature to keep her heritage a secret. It was something precious and dangerous considering the present climate.

 _I...No._ She decided ultimately. _If that were to happen, it would be his job to bring me in if I were every discovered. And I don't want to put him in that position._ While she knew he wouldn't just cuff her and haul her in, Rill wasn't sure if Reno would let her go or just give her a head start...

 _Don't be so negative!_ Aeris scolded. _The impression I got from meeting him with you, and from the Planet is that he's more likely to stuff you in a barrel somewhere, report that he never saw you, then smuggle you out on a chocobo transport or in a circus!_

 _The circus is definitely the more likely option. Ever since the 'King of Clowns' incident, they've been begging Shinra to lease him out to them. I think the ringmaster would marry him to his daughter if he thought it would get Reno to join up permanently. Now, I do need to work, cuz..._

 _Of course, of course! Go save the world, one file at a time. See you later!_

While speaking with Aeris was a pleasant distraction, the casualty reports from AVALANCHE's attack still needed to be sorted...

More people than just Hojo had been injured, and Rill had to adapt the daily roster to account for the absences.

-vVv-

Security skyrocketed after the Midwinter Assault. New passwords, new key cards and identification.

" _I've arranged for you to receive a master key."_ Rufus informed Rill over the phone when she wasn't able to dodge his call any longer.

"Why would I need one?" She asked. "I'm running one department, not-"

" _Nerilka, please."_ Rufus cut her off with a long-suffering tone. " _You are one of the greatest non-combat assets Shinra has ever possessed. You have more than earned a master key."_ Rill examined the super durable piece of computerized plastic, choosing to ignore him using her name. She had concluded that keeping Rufus at a professional distance was not possible, but was determined to keep him at arm's length. At gunpoint if needed.

"Basic tracking chip or GPS?" She asked, running her fingers over what she held.

" _GPS, with a minor medical scanner to detect any abnormalities in your day to day function. The company might implode if you took an unexpected sick day."_ Rill hummed.

"Super reinforced, waterproof and designed to withstand heat and electric discharge?"

" _Given your association with SOLDIER Fair and the fact that AVALANCHE has targeted you before, it was decided that having it be as sturdy as could be made was in everyone's best interest."_ Rill flicked the card with her finger, producing a sharp tap.

"Is this bullet proof?"

" _I am not at liberty to say if that was ever tested. But rumor claims that it can and has withstood several shotgun shells at long to mid range."_ She rolled her eyes.

"Very good, Mr Vice President. Will there be anything else?" She asked in a dryly mocking tone.

" _Be a dear and pick up Dark Nation from the groomer for me, darling? You know how antsy our boy gets when he hasn't seen you in a while~."_ Rufus's crooning tone made her gag and shudder.

"If you were going for unsettling, that's the way to do to it. Good day to you too."

-vVv-

Rill frowned as she scanned the report.

"SOlDIER's Crus and Michaels are late in reporting back." She informed Sephiroth. Something was itching it's way up her spine as she drummed her fingers on the desk.

"How long have they been out of contact?" The General asked cooly.

"Two hours since they were deemed missing." She replied. "Their commanding officer has requested backup. Both of them were 2nd Class and creeping towards the cut off for 1st."

"Who's being flown out to investigate?"

"On book? 1st Class Raith and his squad." Sephiroth turned and eyed her with a raised brow.

"And off book?" Rill flipped open her phone and checked her messages.

"Veld has called in a favor with an ex Turk."

"Codename?"

"Legend." If Veld had called in Terrence Jackson, AKA 'The Grim Reaper', from his retirement, then he must have suspected something was going to go bad very quickly. The explosives expert was the most reliable Turk operative ever since Veld retired from field work.

"Put an unofficial addendum on Raith's orders, he is to assist Legend however he can." Rill typed the instructions and sent it with a few practiced movements. She rose and sighed, examining the names of the missing SOLDIERs with regret.

 _Essai Crus and Sebastian Michals._ Both were friends of Zack. They had been in his entrance group and they had remained in touch even after Zack was fast tracked to 1st through his apprenticeship to Angeal. It would hurt him deeply to hear that they were gone...

 _I don't even know if-_ Rill stopped herself and reevaluated why she had concluded that the pair was dead...

She listened and could hear, in the back of her mind, the Planet mourning two of her children quietly. _What happened?_ Rill asked, straining to try and discern the nuances of the answer.

 _Stolen. Gone. Twisted. Not mine. Not anymore._ 'Not mine anymore'... The only thing that made the Planet think like that about anyone was if they had lost their humanity. If they had been corrupted by Jenova.

Not if they were dead.

If they had died then the Planet would be welcoming them back to her.

No, something else had gone wrong as well...

But what?

AVALANCHE didn't have access to Jenova, thankfully, and Hojo was still recovering from his injury from a few weeks back...

Rill's breath hitched as she remembered.

 _Men's faces, twisted in animalistic snarls. Inhuman shrieks and roars as they charged at her, heedless of any danger in their way, including the long, razor edged blade of Masamune._

 _The soft utterances of the Planet that Rill couldn't hear past her own panic, fear and shock._

 _Gone. Gone. Not mine..._

A hand on her shoulder made Rill come back to her senses.

"Rill?"

"I'm fine. Just thought of something." She turned and scrolled through the past reports of AVALANCHE's activity in Icicle Inn. Something that had caused an outpost to be sent there at all...

"What is it?" She couldn't find it and it was bothersome to have Sephiroth leaning over her shoulder like that! It was distracting, darn it!

"My gut says that Crus and Michaels aren't dead, but at the same time, I cannot make myself believe that they are safe either." She informed Sephiroth, feeling for the gut instinct that she was getting in response to the Planet's murmurs. "There was something in the area that AVALANCHE was doing that came up on our radar. Something we thought needed to be watched, what was it?"

"Here." Sephiroth's hand covered hers and stopped her scrolling through older reports. "Signs of moderate troop activity. 20-40 enemy units. Relatively fresh, but no open trace found and the locals were either unwilling to tell, or didn't know. The Turks who scouted it out believed that there was a training facility hidden somewhere nearby." Rill's heart lurched.

"That's it..." She mused. "Crus and Michals must have been captured. But why would they have a training facility in a community as small as Icicle Inn? It's all but guaranteed that their movements would be detected."

"Perhaps there was some other reason for their choice of location." Sephiroth's voice was sounding just over her head as Rill tried to make her brain work faster.

"Like what though? It's a tourist spot for those who like snowboarding and skiing. The only other thing up there besides the resorts scattered about are hunting cabins..."

"There are empty Mako chambers within the mountains, and almost all of them are connected, forming a large network of navigable tunnels. The largest of these would be large enough to house upwards of a hundred men and enough supplies to sustain them. The lingering radiation would be problematic though-" Rill blinked, her mind making a connection in a bright flash.

 _The maddened men._

 _Their behavior was similar to those souls who were subjected to a SOLDIER treatment but reacted poorly. Until their systems were scrubbed clean, they were irrational, highly aggressive and unbelievably strong._

 _Dangers of radiation._

 _SOLDIER's were primarily sent to investigate the interior of Mako reactors in case of an emergency, for one, because of the chance of monsters having spawned or mutated from the Mako, but also because of lingering radiation. Given that they were internally housing their own supply of the stuff, SOLDIER's were highly resistant to Mako poisoning._

 _AVALANCHE is making their own variant of SOLDIER._ Rill realized. Her mind flipped back to the most recent targets of AVALANCHE attacks.

Mako reactors had been attacked, and critical parts carefully destroyed but the most damage was always in the labs that were attached to it, to monitor and verify the purity of the Mako and it's effects of the surrounding wildlife. Then in Shinra tower itself, there had been multiple hits, but one of them had been the Research and Development center as well as Hojo's personal lab. Now they went after Hojo himself, and everyone knew that there was some information that he didn't trust to computers or other people. That he only carried on himself...

Everything was pointing towards AVALANCHE deciding to go for effectiveness over moral standing. They were making their own SOLDIER using the very methods that they condemned Shinra for using.

What's more, they were at least partially succeeding.

-vVv-

Nearly a week later, Sephiroth listened as Rill read the report of recent findings in Icicle Inn.

His hunch about the Mako caverns was correct. Fuhito was using the still active chambers as treatment plants for his troops, 'Ravens' according to the files that they had found. The non Mako saturated chambers housed the staff who monitored the recruits and administered treatment and oversaw the brutal training regime.

It wasn't a large lab. They had only found about 15 Ravens in various stages of development held within. SOLDIER's Crus and Michaels had been among them. They hadn't been completely gone when rescuers arrived, but they had eventually succumbed and lost their minds, forcing the ex-Turk to put them down.

The lab had been destroyed along with most of the evidence that would have helped them work out the exact details of how and where the Raven's serum differed from a SOLDIER's'. Veld was taking the blame for the failed mission, since they had only come away with minimal new knowledge. Heidegger was now in command of the Turks. Veld was back to being a field operative and a disgraced one at that if one believed the press.

The outrage from his department should have been shaking the company from the top down. The fact that it wasn't told Rill that Heidegger commanded exactly as many of the Turks as he currently had line of sight on.

But despite the attempts by AVALANCHE to erase all information, there was much more information that could be salvaged than most people had thought.

But not from his fallen men. Crus and Michals were being held as KIA. Sephiroth refused to have their bodies dissected by Hojo's underlings.

No, this had come from the various traces of Mako that they had been able to artificially force into materia. Once someone with the appropriate skill slotted these crystals, they were able to provide a general playback of what went on inside the caverns.

Each batch of would-be Ravens underwent significant mental training. They were implanted with psychological triggers that would induce various responses, and one stimuli that would deactivate them completely, rendering them all but harmless.

It was like looking through a place meant for training pit dogs instead of SOLDIERs. They were churning out animals, not troops.

Sephiroth retained a clinical detachment to the whole affair, making mental notes occasionally but he noticed that Rill's hands were trembling slightly as she continued to read, skipping, summarizing where necessary. Her eyes were dark and flat, indicating that she was controlling herself to the utmost degree. And that meant that this was hitting her a lot harder than she was willing to show him, even now.

 _Why are you always so determined to hide?_ He wondered. _I know you. I've seen you among those you love. I've seen you cry and be angry. What are you hiding from me even now?_ The thought that she had something she wanted to keep hidden was something that he could respect. Intellectually at least.

But his intellect was having less and less say in how he interacted with Rill nowadays.

The shift was subtle. But he could, reflecting over the last four months since he had given her Griffin, notice that he was initiating casual touch a lot more often. That was the biggest sign he had noticed. But if he went through his thought patterns, he noticed a similar trend. When he thought of Rill now, the label of 'secretary' and 'work-related' were now very far towards the bottom of things he associated with her. They had been replaced by 'trusted', 'liked' and 'friend'. Or at least he thought that was what they were. Somehow, the words seemed woefully inadequate. No matter how much time he put towards trying to pin their accurate definitions down, they always eluded him.

He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Rill?" Her eyes were glassy.

"I'm ok."

"No you're not." At least he could tell if she was lying much more easily now that he had been able to observe and interact with her family for comparison's sake.

She let out a short, mirthless laugh.

"Fine then, you're right. But I'll get through it." She looked up at him with a spark of morbid amusement in her smile. "I sometimes envy you your ability to divorce from your feelings." Her candid words were a stark contrast to the abrupt sensation of a small scale electric shock that jolted through him at seeing her smile.

 _No. Control it._

"I'm good at pretending, Rill. I still feel." Likely she was bothered by the findings in Icicle Inn. She was the empathic sort to feel some kind of phantom discomfort at the mere recounting of pain. It was a trait she shared with her family too, particularly Aeris. Sephiroth had initially thought it was a fundamental difference between men and women. That women were more attuned to that kind of communication. But something Emma had said once in conversation...

" _Did you know that a lot of people think Rill's eyes are unsettling?" Sephiroth was surprised to hear that._

" _I did not." He found it somewhat ludicrous that that was the case. Rill's eyes were blue. A blue that was caught between the soothing, calm darkness of navy and the bold richness of azure. There was knowing and understanding in her gaze, amusement, affection and occasionally mischief. Which in turn inspired ease, comfort and awe from him. But he found nothing even remotely unsettling about them._

" _Something about her 'seeing into their soul'. Do you get the same feeling?" Sephiroth considered this for a brief instant, giving it all the attention he felt it needed._

" _Constantly. But I find it reassuring and inspiring rather than concerning in any way." He paused... "Why would some people not find it such?" Seeing events from another person's perspective was something that Rill had cited as her greatest strength in dealing with the day to day hassle of keeping everyone under her care safe and well._

 _The blond Turk absorbed his question for awhile before she answered slowly._

" _I guess...because everyone has something that they want to hide. That they would do anything to keep people from noticing. As in, if someone found out about it, it would destroy their opinion of them forever. And Rill has this air around her that tells you: 'I know what you did last night' without her needing to say anything. It scares people to have someone have that kind of power over you."_

Was that how he felt? Sephiroth considered this for only a brief time.

The typical reactions to such a threat would be hyper awareness of their presence, perhaps occasional shivers and a penchant to try and listen to every word that they said. All of which he did in regards to Rill.

No. That wasn't right. Not even close.

All of those symptoms were negative. But he could hardly think that Rill inspired a negative reaction in him.

"Feelings? Like what then?" Rill asked, curiosity entering her gaze. "I know you well enough by now to say that while you most certainly have feelings, you don't understand them that well." Her eyes seemed to go on forever. He only got this feeling of being small and vulnerable when he looked into an open, clear night sky. Was this what it like to be suckerpunched? Sephiroth had never experienced having the breath knocked out of him before, but this was certainly what he imagined it was like.

Did he truly not understand his feelings? He was considered to be the peak of the human male. Strong, swift, intelligent. He wouldn't have considered this lack a flaw two years ago. But now he couldn't convince himself that it was alright to go through life not understanding himself fully.

 _She's been right with just about everything else after all._

"Hello? Gaia to Sephiroth?" She was reaching up and waving a delicate hand in front of his eyes. "Did I break you? A comment on your emotional state, and you zone out, seriously?"

"I'm all right. You just...made me think."

He looked down at Rill, carefully analyzing everything that went through his mind. Everything that he could recognize at least.

 _She was small. Topping out at 5 feet, 3 and 3/4's of an inch. And compared to his battle shaped physique, she was petite. He had seen her struggle to reach some higher items. At work, she would have someone else reach for it to preserve her image of being calm and contained. At home or in a comfortable setting, she was more likely to glower at what she wanted for having the nerve to be out of her reach, then climb the shelf to get it._

 _Protectiveness. It was unacceptable for her to ever come to harm. Fondness. Amusement._

 _At home. She was a completely different person. More of a hellion than he would have ever imagined upon first meeting her and hiring her as a personal secretary. She would short sheet her cousin's' bed, balance a cup of water on a door to have it fall on the next person who passed through, spray someone with a hose if she thought they were being too serious, and was generally fearless in the face of what would make other women cringe._

 _The amusement was stronger. Now it was outright laughter._

 _The soft smile she always wore in the presence of her loved ones. Her somewhat bemused smile whenever she dealt with Zack or Reno's antics, the quizzical angle of her head. The endless, star touched distance of her eyes._

 _Awe. Admiration. There was nothing in the world as lovely as Rill._

And around all of that, there was bitter, endless self deprecation at the times when he hadn't been vigilant enough to keep her safe and happy. Sadness for the times when she had grieved for Genesis or the men who would never come back from a battlefield. Elation at being allowed to be a part of her family. Sour irritation at the times when someone's gaze would linger a little too long on her form. Desolate, absolute emptiness whenever he wondered what his life would be like if he hadn't noticed her when she came to put Scarlet in her place...

 _I think I am in over my head._ Sephiroth concluded as he forced himself to detach from his emotions before they became too much for him to handle. (He wasn't sure what he would do if they ever became overwhelming, but he didn't want Rill to see him in that state...)

As Rill finished the report, Sephiroth decided that he needed to have someone guide him through the nuances of his emotions.

Just...not Rill.

She would do her best to help, to be sure. But her presence would be...counterproductive if this event held any long term value. She seemed to be the primary center of all his feelings, having her around was... _Thrilling? Wonderful? Just...good? Definitely positive, whatever it is._

Either way, he needed someone to help him through this and Rill was not an option. Which posed a problem as the list of people he would trust to help him through this without trying to manipulate him in some way was rather...short.

 _Zack would be intolerable if he thought I needed help in this matter, and he would tell Reno. Ugh. Cloud...?_ A possibility. But he didn't like the idea of exposing such a weakness to the boy, even if he was growing to trust and like him more and more with every time that they interacted. _Have to remember to inform Rill to look for his reapplication for SOLDIER. (_ Not that the young infantry knew that he would be reapplying. But Sephiroth hadn't put in so much work for the blonde not to get the time to fully come into himself as a swordsman. He was getting to be quite good and Sephiroth was considering finding some complimentary blades for him to dual wield.)

That left only two. And Sephiroth thought there was some promise in these.

Elmyra and Aeris. Two people who had watched Rill grow up and been raised alongside her respectively.

 _Perfect._

-vVv-

Aeris heard the moment something changed.

The ever present song on the Planet in the back of her mind burst into the opening bars of an entirely new theme. One that was...similar to something she had heard before.

 _It's like when Genesis realized he loved her._ Aeris held her breath, listening with all her might.

Genesis's affection was edging Rill out of her comfort zone and not in a good way. While the emotion was real, he was...he was going too far. The Goddess wanted her noble champion back and Jenova was twisting that one good thing, trying to make him fall completely by using the one reason he had to remain sane. Because the Calamity was just that sort of being. Cruel and spiteful enough to use what was good for her own selfish, destructive purposes.

Who had just fallen in love with her cousin? And not just a minor little attraction, but complete, perfect and faithful adoration.

She got snatches of potential for Rill from many people. Her redheaded Turk bodyguard, for one. And...Zack.

Aeris squashed the current of jealousy that rose up inside her.

 _He had a relationship with her long before he ever even saw me. And she wasn't and still isn't interested. He could tell that, so he never tried to go further._ It didn't change the fact that it wasn't especially good for her confidence to know that her boyfriend once had a crush on her more responsible, outgoing and witty sister.

But this wasn't just potential; it was an anthem of determined dedication. There would be no ending to this. It had happened and there was no going back. Ever.

 _It was always there, daughter. You just could never hear it until it went past the point of no return._ The Planet's voice was a barely there whisper of thought. It hardly seemed to form words in her mind, more like it spoke these feelings into her heart, like previously hidden seeds blooming in response to a ray of sunlight.

 _Who is it?_ Aeris prayed, bowing her head over the iris's that edged their yard and surrounding the seedling trees she had caused to sprout. _Who could help her not be so lonely...?_

 _You already know._ The young Cetra's eyes opened.

General Sephiroth. The imposing man with slightly terrifying reputation who had become a part of their family.

Sephiroth. The grown man who stole cookies like a six year old, who delighted in giving the three women extraordinarily extravagant gifts.

So he had finally realized how he felt...And being that kind of person, once he loved someone, there would be no regressing to mere friendship again.

He would be coming down to their home soon, confused as to what he was feeling and seeking some identification for it, but unable to use his preferred method of discerning the innermost workings of his mind because she was the source of his problem.

Aeris knew instinctively that getting together with Sephiroth would probably be the single best thing that ever happened to Rill. They already worked so well together, playing off of each other's strengths and covering the other's weaknesses almost without a conscious thought. Both had respected each other for a long time before they even became friends. In all honesty, not much about their day to day interaction would change by them actually becoming a couple.

Besides Sephiroth having the right to impale guys who hit on Rill in the street, owning a key to her apartment, and the actual romantic portion.

But Rill was too afraid to let anything come from that.

Aeris recalled the vision that her cousin had seen, been sent by the Planet with an iron clad certainty: If she got into a romantic relationship, Aeris would die. She had first seen it as she approached puberty, thus she had sworn off any and all males from day one. The flower girl gently eased her fist open, murmuring an apology to the flower stem she had accidentally crushed.

It didn't seem fair.

Rill had already given and sacrificed so much for Aeris' sake.

She had somehow made her way across the continent to Midgar on the off chance of finding her. Alone, when she was barely six years old after being orphaned. She had been there with her endless curiosity and steady courage, willing to reach out to the Planet on blind faith where Aeris had only ever gazed around her in fear. She had always been the one to wander and venture into places that no sane person would go into. 'Living for both of them' she had always said. Bitterly accurate since neither of the girls considered being under watch the way they were only a half life. They did determine very early on though, around the time when someone had come to try and take Rill away, that people had no idea that Rill was related to Aeris directly and not Elmyra as everyone had assumed.

The woman who had recently lost her husband stepped up and boldly claimed Rill as her family, and fought tooth and nail to keep her in their home. Eventually, people concluded that it wasn't worth the struggle, and Rill was left in the Gainsborough household until she grew to maturity.

They had gotten an education above the general academic schooling in Sector 5 because of Rill's insatiable curiosity. It was their favorite game, to try and find where the Turks had stationed the daily guard, and if they managed to spot them, they would be taught something new. It allowed for a much wider education than most of their peers received. It was from these few tentative friends that Rill and Aeris first learned how to use materia, and later how Rill managed to find gainful employment within Shinra when she was technically still underage.

She had willingly gone into the place that was looming in Aeris' future as an inevitable prison, to try and find some way of changing the coming events that she had felt coming. Because the people who would change the fate of the Planet were part of the very company that was responsible for hurting it so badly.

Aeris hadn't been privy to Rill's thoughts about who she was going to try and change or save, but she had felt when she met them who was important to the coming conflict with the Calamity.

Sephiroth had always had an eerie song around him when Aeris first met him, sitting worriedly by her cousin/sister's bedside and gently coaxing water her to drink some water in a semi delirious state. It had jarred her at first to see the handsome SOLDIER regard Rill with such tenderness.

It had taken all of three hours for Aeris to ship it wholeheartedly.

It had broken her heart when she realized exactly why Rill was avoiding romantic entanglements.

 _Rill... All of us are going to die someday, it's the one thing we can never change._

 _Don't chase away those you love. Why should I be happy at your expense?_


	26. How do you know?

_Apparently, it is impossible to have a normal month these days._ Rill decided with dispassionate resignation as she looked at the latest information from Junon.

Hollander, terrified, filthy and looking half feral, had showed up in the Shinra dominated city, voluntarily turning himself in if it got him sanctuary and protection from the ex 1st Class SOLDIER he had coerced into deserting.

" _Genesis has gone completely off his rocker!"_

 _Yeah, but I have to think that you're part of the reason that he is like this._ Rill did not have an especially high opinion of the man. At all.

With Hollander's surrender, there looked to be at the very least hope for this...feud to end soon. Genesis would eventually run out of manpower without Hollander there to run the machines. Or at least, that's what she hoped...

The refugee scientist wasn't pointing any fingers, but Rill had the horrible suspicion that he knew about Genesis' feelings for her. He hadn't exactly kept it a secret that he had been interested in her even after they had settled their differences into a semblance of friendship. Though she did appreciate that he wasn't doing anything ridiculous like dedicating victories to her of sundry other nonsense. _Please say that it will stay that way._ Genesis was the dramatic sort. Enough that he might enjoy doing that if it got a rise out of her. Flashy bastard that he was.

 _How did Hollander get away from Genesis?_

From what the man was saying, it had been his plan to use the cloning technology to shortcut the development of an entire army of 1st Class equivalents. His reasons for doing this could be summed up under the label of 'pride'. Rill had honestly stopped listening to the exact reasons as soon as she could be certain that any pertinent information had already been said.

But this definitely changed things. It meant that Genesis was the one spearheading the anti-Shinra army. Which meant he was not just a simple deserter, but a very big and complicated defector and traitor.

 _There's not going to be any way to make him stop short of kicking Jenova out of his head permanently._ She told Aeris grimly. _And unless **we** capture him somehow and manage to contain him away from unfriendly eyes for however long it takes, we won't have the chance to do anything about her. _

The more unstable Genesis's mental state got to be, the more direct control Jenova could exert over him until he was little more than a puppet who had forgotten what free will and peace were like. The damage Jenova was doing to his psyche must be devastating, but so long as she could be removed from his thought process, there was hope...the ever dwindling, but still present, hope that he could be redeemed.

 _We'll have to do what we can._ Aeris was worried as well, but she was also thinking very heavily about something. Rill could perceive that whatever she was turning over in her mind wasn't something that would be easily handled.

 _Rill...?_

 _Yes?_ The secretary turned unofficial department head scanned the latest reports on AVALANCHE's movements, compiled by those Turks who were professional enough to not act incompetent to spite Heidegger. The terrorist faction was going to be moving against Junon, the biggest base of Shinra's power aside from Midgar itself. Troops had been sent out to prepare accordingly, but Heidegger was being a moron about not allowing the three factions to coordinate effectively by locking down radio communication between the army, SOLDIER and the Turks! He claimed that this was a breakthrough development to keep AVALANCHE from getting a read on their maneuvers. _Stumbling around blindfolded and tripping over each other isn't a breakthrough, it's stupid and going to get people, your people, killed!_ She deliberately set the papers aside to peruse the files that needed authorization and sorted them by who needed to sign them, her or Sephiroth.

 _I want you to carry the White Materia for a while._ Rill's hand jerked, a deep slash of ink spreading across the page of a supply requisition.

 _Are you joking!? Aeris, that's your mother's last gift to you, you are the Elder!_ Aeris was older and stronger with the Cetra's legendary gifts. Things like giving and nurturing life in otherwise inhospitable climates, meditation and communication, between the members of their race and to the Planet that housed them. If there were other Cetra still alive, Aeris would be considered their...high priestess, for lack of a better word. She had the White Materia, one of two direct channels to the Lifestream, the power that had given their formerly nomadic race a home.

 _I know. But...well it's just the two of us as far as we know. And Genesis can't be cured unless the person doing it has it with them. Frankly, you're more likely to encounter him than I am._ This wasn't a bitter statement, just a bland fact.

 _There's no way I have enough power to effectively use it..._

 _Not right now, no. That's why I want you to carry it. So you can bond with it enough to hopefully use it to heal him properly without hurting yourself._ Rill glanced at her bracelet with it's six materia slots.

A Cure, an Ice, a Bolt, Tremor-sense and Infrared, and Griffin all winked back at her. It was a curious feeling to be so fully stocked of Materia that were all hers and not on loan from Shinra.

From what Aeris had determined, the White Materia could be used alone to cast Holy. A single, massive spell that would affect the entire world, rewriting whatever the planet and the caster deemed threatening. But it had another, slightly more everyday use. By pairing it with another materia, usually a magic, and channeling the spell through the White Materia, it was possible to increase the power of whatever was being cast enormously, albeit at a dramatically increased cost.

Aeris's best guess for healing Genesis was a White enhanced Heal to purge Jenova from his body, then a White enhanced Cure to mend the microscopical damage that her presence would have caused. The best results would have been achieved if one of them used the White Materia while the other used the common magic materia.

But she was right. Rill was much more likely to see Genesis than Aeris was.

It meant that Aeris thought that Rill might have to cure him all by herself.

 _I don't like it._ She said to her cousin through their mutual connection to the Planet.

 _I know._

 _I'm not taking the primary bond. It's your birthright, and you're more suited to it than I am._

 _I'm not going to dispute that if it means you'll take it._

Rill breathed out slowly.

 _Then...I'll take it for awhile...No more than a week._

 _Two months._ Aeris countered. Rill's eyes narrowed as she stared into space, feeling her cousin's rock hard stubbornness about this.

 _Two weeks._

 _Three months._ Exasperation flooded through her.

 _You do realize that's not how negotiation works?_

 _Four months. And I know, I just don't care. I've had it for years, it's time for you to catch up._

 _I'll take the two months._

 _Too bad! That was a one time offer, it's now up to 18 weeks, minimum!_

 _Aeris...!_

-vVv-

Rill held the deceptively small crystal sphere in her hand and gazed at it thoughtfully.

About the size of a marble, silky smooth to the touch, and a paler shade than any other magic materia, the White Materia of the Cetra lived up to its name. It sang of purity and power, a comforting, reassuring song to her mind.

Aeris had always worn in it on a chain around her neck, passing it off as a sentimental piece of jewelry and Rill did the same even now. But she had the chain a little longer so she could tuck it below her collar and out of sight.

Holy was something that was meant to protect, but she wasn't about to challenge Shinra's ability to pervert what was normally good and wholesome. There was no question about it, if it came down to it, Rill would sacrifice her life if it meant keeping this power out of Shinra's hands.

The changes were subtle the longer she had it. But Rill could feel her capacity for magic growing exponentially the longer she remained in contact with it. Day by day, stretching her limits to the very edge. She was calmer and more centered, and for a change, thinking of Genesis didn't result in guilt or pain. There was serenity in spite of her grief for him.

She heard the Planet's loud and clear, even in her most harried and stressed state, its guidance and comfort resonating in her heart.

 _I might have enough to try summoning Griffin for real by the time this is over..._ She had communed with the defensive summon many times and could gauge approximately how much of her strength it would take to call forth a physical manifestation of him. She was still looking at it taking about 60% of her overall reserves, but that toll was dropping day by day as she bonded more closely with him, and as her power increased from contact with the White Materia.

The door to her apartment opened and she paused in her reading, listening.

When there was no stumble against the coat rack in the front hall, Rill guessed that Reno was coming to visit. He had arranged so that the noisy piece of furniture would catch the toes of the unwary as a defensive precaution against invaders.

"Reno?" She called.

"Yo." He responded, sounding rather...angry? Rill paused and focused on the Turk as he came into her apartment, his uniform surprisingly neat in comparison to how he usually appeared. He even had a tie on.

He went straight for her kitchen and promptly started devouring cookies from the jar on her fridge. Rill chucked a pen at him.

"Talk, Reno. Don't eat your feelings." He rolled his eyes, coming over to where she sat on the couch and plopping down, his legs taking up most of the space.

"The bastard." He mumbled angrily. "Said it was a waste of time, yo."

"To which bastard are you referring, because there are three people that you usually call that." Palmer, Heidegger and Hojo.

"Heidegger." Reno growled, scowling. "He took me offa guarding you. I'm shipped out to Junon 'til further notice."

"What did he pull to get that done?" Rill wondered aloud. Last she had checked, most people were pretty gung-ho about making sure that she wasn't vulnerable given that her safety was a fairly big sticking point for the most dangerous man in Midgar.

"Made up some bull about the Turks needing more leadership out there." The redhead said moodily. "He's keeping Veld and Tseng locked here." Trying to keep the former leadership from cutting support out from under Heidegger.

"Useless since Heidegger doesn't have any support from the department worth mentioning." The Turks were a tightly knit group and once you were accepted by one of them, all of them were yours. Veld had been a productive, professional senior member for many years, and had led them expertly for more than a decade after his retiring from field work. Tseng was his personal second, picked out from the cadet pool mere days after he had applied and blown the aptitude tests out of the park. Veld, freshly made the head of the Department, had been looking for someone to groom as the next head and when he had found him he had wasted no time. Tseng was almost as respected as Veld. The only real difference was that Veld had more experience.

"Yeah, but it still sucks rocks." Reno groaned. "We're barely getting anything done, yo! We're tied up making sure that the SOLDIER goons and the Infantry don't step on each other's toes and the fat bastard wants me to go and command the whole mess!"

"I'm fairly certain that all he told you to do was pilot out there and act as air support..."

"You have no proof of that!"

"Reno, you've been in the Turks for five years, but you don't have the weight class to command the Turk defense of Junon. Now stop eating my cookies."

"Bu' dere' guuh!" Rill reached out and tugged on the redhead's ear, prising the tin out of his hands easily.

"I'm flattered. But just because you're not my bodyguard anymore doesn't mean you get the automatic right to stuff your face." Reno's eyes became wide and pleading as he tried to give off an innocent, helpless air.

"But Rill...It's three months, I'll go through withdrawal and crash the chopper and everyone will die cause I didn't get enough cookies!"

"I'll send you a care package." Rill was forced back as Reno flung himself at her, her book falling to the ground.

"You're the best, yo!" She struggled briefly, getting a hand on his forehead and pushing him back off of her.

"Get off of me, thrill junkie!" _He has to remember Sephiroth did the last time he glomped me, right?_

 _..._

 _..._

 _Wait, of course he does. That's why he's doing it._

-vVv-

It was a strange sensation to not have Reno shadowing her almost constantly anymore. Rill kinda missed him.

"Ok, calm down, and start from the beginning." She spoke into her phone as she slid down her prefered route to the slums, intent on hunting down Zack who had run afoul of the cross dressers on Wall Market.

" _There was this girl who said she needed some help carrying her shopping-!"_ Zack cut out with a yelp as Rill distantly heard an enticing coo over the line.

" _Where you goin', soldier boy?"_ Then there came the sound of running footsteps.

" _I can't say I've had much experience with surprise transvestites, Zack, so I'm afraid you're on your own for this."_ Sephiroth sounded incredibly amused over the conference call. " _Rill, call me back as soon as you've taken care of him. I'll be back in Midgar sometime tonight now that my mission is finished."_ He then hung up the phone with that as farewell.

" _Not funny Seph! I'm a committed man now-! Oh Goddess. Rill I'll owe you my immortal soul if you don't tell Aeris about this!"_

"I was under the impression I already owned your sorry backside three times over." She said mildly, rappelling down the side of a narrow shaft that lead to approximately the right section of the slums she needed to be in.

 _"Yeah, yeah, my backside, my frontside, my everything, but come on, you gotta promise!"_ He sounded well and truly desperate. Rill sighed, knowing that she probably should be the tiniest bit more involved. This was Aeris's boyfriend after all...

On that note, however...

"When were you planning on telling me that you two were official?" She asked Zack, bracing her back against a wall and pausing to catch her breath.

" _Anytime that isn't now! Come on future sister-in-law, I'm begging you!"_

"Alright, alright, I'll help. I'm almost there." Rill adjusted her grip on her cable, then proceeded to slide the remainder of the way to the bottom. She scrounged around in her pockets and chucked some loose change at the old homeless fellow who manned the entrance. She also motioned him to keep silent as he made to greet her. "First thing to try and avoid attracting attention Zack: Running like a lunatic and shouting doesn't help."

She had to rescue him from inside a dressmaker's shop while a pack of 'women' hunted for him outside. Zack was getting quite the following considering his frequent trips below the Plate. Most seemed to think him far more approachable than the other 1st's who were idolized.

He was posing as a mannequin dressed in a very fetching green number that Rill might have considering buying before she saw it on him. She resisted the urge to snicker as she looked him over. She quickly took a picture, because there was no way she wasn't going to take advantage of something this good!

"I must say, you make a remarkably beautiful woman." She spoke and was rewarded by him twitching.

"Not a word...please..."

"Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies."

-vVv-

Sephiroth had no real idea of how he had gotten here.

He was sitting at Elmyra's kitchen table with a mug of something fragrant and herbal steaming in his gloves hands.

He had been coming back from busting another AVALANCHE lab and wiping out the completed Ravens, and trying to save the unfinished ones. After the Icicle Inn mission's 'failure', people were demanding that he go and clean out the rat dens personally.

Zack had called him in a panic about his latest escapade while he still had Rill on the line.

It had only been a few days since Sephiroth had last heard from her, but he had felt something unwind as he heard her speak wryly to their mutual friend. He had been so absorbed in relishing the sound of her voice that he hadn't noticed where he was going. A short time later, he finally noticed that he was on the train going down to Sector 5.

It had flustered him incredibly that he had unconsciously moved without really taking notice of his surroundings. He had exited the train intending to go back up to work to try and clear his head, but his previous decision to speak to one of the Gainsborough women had come back to him and he had instead made his way to his second home.

He had barely managed to articulate what his problem was before he had been seated with a cup of tea in his hands while Elmyra regarded him patiently from across the well scrubbed table.

"Start from the beginning, dear. Talk your way through it." He floundered for an instant, feeling his face burn at the gentle knowingness in her gaze.

"That...is precisely my issue, Elmyra. I don't know the right words to identify what I'm feeling. But whatever it is, it revolves around Rill and it...is distracting." Gah! That wasn't the right nuance! That implied that whatever he was feeling was bad when he could feel that it wasn't!

Thankfully the mother seemed to understand.

"Would you say that it is one feeling predominantly, or multiple ones that share a characteristic?"

"There are many." Sephiroth said, nodding, glad to have her assistance in this regard.

"And so far as you can tell, the only common factor is Rill?" He had been analyzing this for long enough that he could extrapolate on that. If only a little.

"She is always involved, but the feeling differs from time to time."

"Such as when you are around her and when you aren't?" That was something he had failed to consider. Rill's presence was such a normal, and almost ever present, part of his routine now that he hadn't thought of it in that light.

"Exactly so."

"Describe how you feel when you are around her. I know that's your issue, but perhaps you are looking at this with too concise a view? Feelings aren't something that can easily be condensed into a few words, you're going to have to use quite a few to try and narrow down the possibilities."

So he began to speak.

He told Elmyra about how he hated it when she was hurt in any way. About how funny and endearing he thought she was. It went longer into some startling detail about reading her mood through her eyes, or spotting mood indicating cues in the way she'd fidget with her glasses.

"Focusing on one aspect of what you mentioned: You dislike seeing her hurt. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say this: How would you prevent Rill from getting hurt in the first place?"

Sephiroth answered instantly and without thinking.

"I'd stay near her." This answer apparently pleased Elmyra a great deal, and though she tried to hide her smile in her mug, he could see her eyes glitter the same way her daughter's did.

"Why?"

"There is very little in the world that I am incapable of besting in combat. And given my reputation, any people who mean her harm would be deterred from going near her."

-vVv-

"You didn't know about how distinctly different her work persona is from how she behaves at home or in private. How did finding this out make you feel?"

"It was jarring to see how much her personality seemed to contrast what I was thinking she was. But it was easily dealt with. Both were still her, and I could see her reason for developing such a strict identity to cope with work."

"And now, whenever she acts distant, or uses that professional mask around you?"

"I am...unhappy I suppose, whenever she falls back into her behavior from our early relationship. I enjoy the way we interact now."

-vVv-

"How do you view other women as opposed to Rill?" Sephiroth was baffled by this question and it showed on his face.

"I hardly have anything to do with women beyond you, Aeris or Rill." Elmyra made a gentle gesture with her hand.

"Your view of them, Sephiroth. Clearly, you are feeling something for my girl. You'll forgive a nosy mother for wanting to make sure of what it is." He straightened.

"You have some idea of what it is I am feeling?" She chuckled quietly.

"An inkling. About how long would you say this unidentified feeling has been troubling you?" She sounded like a doctor asking questions for a physical. However traumatizing some of those visits had been, Sephiroth was too focused on reflexively answering to be bothered by it.

"Around the onset of Genesis's withdrawal from friendly contact and subsequent desertion." He paused, surprised at himself at how long this had been weighing on his subconscious without ever becoming fully active.

"And has it grown more potent over time?"

"Definitely." Elmyra hid a smile in her hand.

"Well then, General...I can safely say I know exactly what is troubling you."

"What is it?" Sephiroth asked keenly. As soon as he could identify what was bothering him, he could formulate a course of action to deal with it.

"You're kidding..." Zack's voice came from behind him and Sephiroth turned to glance back at them. His fellow 1st Class SOLDIER was gawping at him in disbelief, Aeris was standing a short distance away, clearly hiding delighted giggles, her eyes glittering with sheer joy. "Seph, you don't know...? Are you serious?" _Where is she...?_

Sephiroth opted to ignore the minorly relevant question and focus instead on the important fact. "Wasn't Rill supposed to be with you?"

"She's still in Wall Market getting the people to calm down after Zack beat their local gang boss in a squatting contest." Aeris said, chuckling.

 _Oh..._

"He's serious. He hasn't got a clue...damn... This would be hilarious if it weren't so sad." Zack stomped forward, pulling out his PHS to type in a search request.

"Hang on. I got this."

"Internet searches on this matter won't be of much assistance." Sephiroth informed Zack doubtfully. "I am uncertain of how I am feeling. So I have no basis to search on-"

"Luckily the rest of us aren't that clueless about how someone looks when they're in love." Zack replied, Aeris came and leaned over her shoulder, scanning through what he had found...

 _In love._ Sephiroth straightened in his seat.

He understood that there were different kinds of love. The kind of love someone had for their prefered food. The affection and devoted loyalty between family members. He had seen first hand the love of a mother for her children through Elmyra. But the subtle difference in the way Zack had said this had caught his notice... _In love._

He would never have thought of what he felt for this little family as love before now. But it certainly did fit with what he knew of it. But somehow putting what he felt about Rill into that framework in his mind seemed woefully inadequate and insufficient.

"There. That one." Aeris pointed over Zack's shoulder and the black haired boy shot her a grin.

"Thanks, Aeris." he leaned his cheek against hers gently, which caused an answering smile to bloom on her face.

Zack thrust the article at Sephiroth before he rose, taking Aeris' hand.

"C'mon, Mom. Better leave Seph to digest this on his own so he's not feeling the pressure." Sephiroth was too absorbed in what he was reading to notice as they left him alone in the kitchen.


	27. Happy Birthday!

February brought still more changes to Shinra.

First, came the anticipated attack on Junon.

Many civilians had been evacuated, so the battle hadn't been as casualty heavy as others, but they had still lost far too many men. That was mainly due to Heidegger's incompetent demand to keep the radios down to prevent AVALANCHE from listening to their marching orders.

Eventually, as he watched more and more of his men and others die, Veld had had enough.

According to Rill's resources, Veld had outright blackmailed President Shinra to give him full command of the Turks once again. Once this was secured, he proceeded to react appropriately, and effectively to the Raven assailants and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was the best man for the position. One part of that was promptly reactivating a certain former Turk, codenamed Legend.

"Welcome back." Rill said to Terrence with a smile as she offered him a gift basket filled with goodies. He looked at her somewhat bemused until she deigned to explain. "Nerilka Thomas. Elmyra Gainsborough is my aunt. I understand you weren't stationed down below that often, but I still remember you."

The man blinked a few times before narrowing his eyes...

"Gainsborough..." His face cleared and he let out a hearty laugh, wrapping an arm around the girl and ruffling her hair. "Goddess, kid, you went and grew up on me!" Rill snorted out a laugh.

Terrence had been one of the best field agents in the Turks for years, but he was eventually forcibly retired due to failing a high profile mission. But instead of outright disposing of him, Shinra had simply put him on the shelf until the situation got bad enough to warrant him being brought back.

He had only been around for two years before his disastrous mission, but Rill still remembered him fondly as one of the best tutors she and Aeris had ever had. It had been this man who taught them how to end any uncomfortable conversations with men swiftly and brutally.

"What happened to the scruffy little tomboy who liked playing in the dirt? All I can see is a gorgeous girl!" Rill squirmed and freed herself in a trice.

"She's pretending that she's not from the slums." She said crisply to the ginger haired man. "And that she would ever be so coarse to as to behave in such a manner."

He just laughed.

"Aw Ramuh, I never thought I'd see the day when you could ever be anything but a terrifying little spitfire..." Rill resisted the urge to blush and glared at him frostily.

"I was not that bad."

"Uh huh, pull the other one." Terrence inhaled the aroma from the basket in his hand with a pleased hum, blithely ignoring the somewhat jealous stares from others as he pulled out a fruit filled, sugar glazed pastry and took a hefty bite. "Damn...your aunt's baking is as good as ever, Rillie." She let a soft smile come to her lips as she hefted the rest of the welcoming gifts for the others in the department.

"I made them myself, Uncle T." She said sweetly, calling up the old nickname that she had started using to poke at his advancing age. He barked out a laugh as Rill placed down the noticeably larger basket for the other Turks to enjoy, and left the room to visit the infirmary.

Reno had gotten injured. Several bullets to the legs. He was down for a day or so for further observation and since by the time he was cleared for moving, everything she had just delivered to the Turk staff room would have been devoured, she didn't feeling like dealing with his whining.

-vVv-

Her former bodyguard perked up and waved cheerfully as she entered his hospital room.

"My girl, yo!" He enthused as he tore into the package of caramel filled cookies. "You're a lifesaver!"

"They were supposed to be for your care package, but since you went and got yourself injured, I figured that this was better." The redhead was busily stuffing his face, and the sticky, sweet caramel was keeping him from answering. Rill sighed with delight as she left the room.

"And my ulterior motive is revealed." The nurses giggled behind her.

"Thanks a bunch, Miss Thomas. He's been shouting almost nonstop since he woke up and has been refusing his antibiotics. Thank you for letting us...exploit your gift."

"Just make sure he doesn't plow through them all in one sitting." She cautioned the woman. "He likes anything with caramel enough that he might just do that. And I didn't let you sneak his medicine into my baking just so he could overdose and die through his own avarice."

"Of course."

-vVv-

 _Ah nostalgia._ Rill hummed as she smiled while listening to the latest issue Zack had found himself caught in. She was indulging a little bit and taking advantage of being Sephiroth's administrative equal to listen to him try to handle a few of Zack's...problems.

"A leprechaun? Not just a midget, a genuine leprechaun?...You need money? No this doesn't apply to the bail fund...Zack, you need that kidney!"

 _Let's see._ Rill scanned through the cameras of the area in the slums until she found what she was after.

 _Bingo. Short-stack Smoothie Keith. Hustler from Sector 2 out looking for fresh fish to scam. Zack has been trying to be responsible lately to impress Aeris, he knows full well where this is going, but can't find a way out of it without resorting to violence._

Taking pity on Sephiroth, she transferred the call to her.

-vVv-

" _Zack, give the phone to the 'leprechaun'."_ Zack had rarely ever obeyed so fast in his life. That was the Boss Rill and you did not mess with the boss. The ginger haired midget put his ear to the phone and sauntered off a short way. Zack couldn't really make out what was being said, but he was a little annoyed with the dwarf. He didn't like getting talked in circles by complete strangers! It was only ok when Rill, Sephiroth, Aeris and Cloud did it!

 _Hope she roasts him..._ Zack thought vindictively. _Little bastard made half of my paycheck go towards booze that I didn't even get to drink!_

His feelings abruptly changed when Keith brought the phone back in a hurry with a familiar expression on his face. Now Zack was honestly sympathetic.

"She's got you too?" He didn't even want to think about all the blackmail that Rill had on him. Especially now that he was dating her sister!

"Aye... The lassie's cruel, that's fer certain..."

"But she's awesome anyway. Don't forget that." Somehow, because it was Rill, Zack wasn't surprised that she had known exactly who he had been talking to and how to get him to back off.

"Aye, laddie. Aye..."

-vVv-

"If you and Reno do not bring the helicopter back before nine, you are both spending the night in the brig. Have I made myself clear?" Sephiroth honestly enjoyed watching Rill work. It was hilarious that someone as laid back and mischievous as she could become such a strict task mistress in the blink of an eye!

 _The best part of your day._

Sephiroth paused as he cast his mind back to the list that Zack had shoved at him about determining whether or not you were in love.

' _No matter what kind of day you're having, the person you love will always make it better simply by being there.'_

 _Hmm..._

 _Check._

-vVv-

It had started out as a fairly normal day for the Turks, Emma thought dazedly as she tried to comprehend where it had all gone wrong.

They had a lead on a leak in their system. Someone who was selling information to an unknown source. Unfortunately, this leak was rumored to be in Wall Market.

Reno was leading the mission because he was from the slums. Alvis and Sean, aka 'Rod' and 'Judo', were accompanying him due to their preferred weapons being relatively easy to carry or impossible to discard.

But...it had all gone wrong...and Emma was out of her depth.

So she went to Rill, frazzled on the inside but using every scrap of her Turk training to not show just how close she was to freaking out.

The younger woman looked up over her dark framed glasses and raised her brows briefly. Emma was holding onto her phone as if it were a lifeline. And no more needed to be said.

Rill rose, poured Emma a cup of something hot and pungent, and took the phone without a another word.

"Alright, first question considering where you are: How many of you are in drag?"

About fifteen minutes later, Rill had talked the three Turks out of their tight corner and they had found their leak.

Emma hugged the shorter girl impulsively.

"You are a Goddess sent lifesaver..." She said, half sobbing. Rill patted her shoulder consolingly.

"There, there. We all have those days, it's fine Emma."

-vVv-

 _'Memo: Launch Inquiry as to who keeps drawing mustaches on my recruitment posters and have them killed.'_

Rill sighed as she looked at the new message from Rufus.

 _He hasn't even been back for a day ..._

It wasn't that hard to determine who was responsible. There were only so many people who would draw on official recruitment posters, and even fewer who would be so brazen about outlining Sephiroth's profile in little hearts.

 _The week before Valentine's day is always a royal pain..._ Dark Nation, who had appeared in her office and seemed determined to not leave her side for some time, purred as she scratched under his chin and answered Rufus's memo.

" _Welcome back, sir. It seems we are right back to square one about the reminders: I am not your secretary, nor your personal assassin. Find some way to deal with it, legally and ethically, or this gets reported."_

-vVv-

It was Valentine's Day, and Sephiroth was getting a little annoyed.

Every time he thought he would get to have a normal conversation with Rill, something would come up, or some trooper would come in bearing flowers, or chocolates, or other gifts for her. She would thank them graciously and set the gifts aside to wait until the end of the day.

Sephiroth sent a brief message.

 _To: Aeris_

 _From: Sephiroth_

 _Sub: Normal or not?_

 _Men are continually bringing Rill presents and occupying her attention and I do not appreciate the way this is making me feel. In fact I believe I am beginning to feel somewhat possessive over her time and irritated that they are taking it away. Is this normal?_

He didn't have to wait long until he got an answer.

 _To: Sephiroth_

 _From: The Flower Girl_

 _Sub: It's adorable._

 _Yes, it's normal to feel that way when you like someone and someone else is taking their attention. And it's always worse when you love them and others seem to be infringing on your time together. Rate it from 'minor inconvenience' to 'unbearable' to determine where you stand._

Sephiroth felt mildly offended for a split second that Aeris would even think that anything that was bothering Rill was merely a 'minor inconvenience'. These men had something else that they were supposed to be doing and here they were taking time out of their schedules to pile unnecessary gifts onto Rill's desk, taking up her valuable time!

"I appreciate the offer, Lux, but I really don't have time for that." Rill's voice came from the other room, warm and apologetic. As if she really were regretting not being able to...what?

"That's too bad, milady. Are you sure you can't make time...?" There was a very strong, rather shameful tinge, of persuasive pleading in the man's voice. _Ok. That has to go. Now._

 _Sergeant Lukas._ The head of Rill's fanclub. _I might have known he wouldn't stay that fawning and weak forever..._ Sephiroth rose and stepped quietly to peer through the adjoining door without making it seem obvious as to what he was doing.

The man was leaning in far too close to her and she was showing the telltale signs of discomfort that he had learned to pick up on.

 _She doesn't want him there. Logical course of action: Remove what is distressing her._

Before Sephiroth could say or do anything though, there came a low growl from the other side of Rill's desk.

"Dark Nation, stay down." Rill told the Vice President's pet in a soft voice. Lukas suddenly looked much more uncomfortable. "I'm quite sure, sergeant. I wish you a pleasant day."

Sephiroth found himself smiling a little too wickedly as he watched the man beat a hasty retreat. He resolved to get the enhanced Guard Hound something red and bloody as a reward.

When he sat down again to shift the pile of gifts from his admirers off of his own desk, Sephiroth realized that he had been contemplating the times at which he might be able to get at the offending male for some short notice...sparring.

 _This might be what Aeris was talking about..._ Well. Evidence certainly indicated that his liking of Rill was much closer to love than he had originally thought.

-vVv-

"I've missed our little chats." Rufus purred at his companion for the evening who gave him her best, flat look through her glasses.

"As have I, sir. Rather like recalling a stone in my shoe." _Brutal._ That was why he liked her after all.

It was March and another fancy event had come around and Rufus had, through some Goddess given miracle, managed to wrangle Rill as his date, something he doubted would have been possible if Sephiroth had still been in town.

While most of the rumors from Rill's first appearance on his arm had died down to nothing, and given that she had been a fairly well known public figure for the last year, given her aid in negotiating the end of the Wutian War, things ought to go much more smoothly this time.

They were sitting in the limo that was being driven to his father's preferred party location, Shinra Manor. Rill was wearing a lovely azure dress with beaded embroidery on her chest and a delicate shawl draped at her elbows. Her hair was done up with a few errant curls and her magnificent eyes were accented beautifully by the color of her attire.

His other motives aside, Rufus did enjoy having a companion who was easy on the eyes and on his mind.

He reached out and carelessly snagged her glasses from her nose.

"For tonight, you're wearing contacts." Her glare was somehow even more fierce without the emphasis of the lens that had been separating them.

"You are the Vice President, sir. Not my boss." _Dear Minerva, woman what does it take to get your forgiveness!_ He had given her plenty of space since his miscalculation two years ago! She had matured physically, so why couldn't she just get over that?!

Speaking to his informants in AVALANCHE had made him aware of the fact that the terrorist group was monitoring her as closely as they could around the Turks who had closed ranks around her. Fuhito wanted her dead because it would cripple Shinra. Rufus was trying to get some positive relationship with her so he wouldn't end up losing one of his only tentative friends to the trigger happy terrorist! He had already ripped the man a new one for going after her before when he still wanted to collect her.

"Nerilka, what do I have to do to convince you that I just want to be a friend?" She scoffed softly.

"Be sincere about it." _Ok. Touche._ Yes, he still mostly wanted her for her brain and the use she would be to him in taking over his father's company. But...

He still had a soul.

Rill was still one of the only people he had ever met who appealed to him on multiple levels. His father was definitely looking at her as a potential wife for him, hence why he was permitting her rise in position to essentially becoming a company executive. And honestly, Rufus would be lying if he said he minded. She was smart, charming, ambitious, capable and quite lovely.

But he had the feeling that Sephiroth would have something to say about the prospect of any relationship involving Rill. Or at least, Masamune would. _He's not fooling anyone. Except for maybe himself._

Well, fine. Although the prospect of any sort of relationship beyond platonic was out, Rufus wasn't about to lose such a valuable ally. Speaking of which, he needed another way of keeping a close eye on her to keep her out of AVALANCHE's sights in the long term now that Reno had been reassigned. Sending Dark Nation to her office was just a stopgap measure. It really all depended on how his latest plan went down.

 _Patience is a key element of success._ And if there was one thing Rufus could be, it was patient.

-vVv-

"Can I look now?" Rill asked plaintively as she hesitantly stepped forward.

"Not yet." Sephiroth said from behind her, chuckling, his hands still carefully covering her eyes.

 _You are gonna love this...!_ Aeris squealed in Rill's head. _He is amazing!_

 _What did Zack do?_ Aeris' birthday had been several months ago so..

 _Not Zack silly! Or...at least not just him!_

It was May 22nd, Rill's eighteenth birthday. She had been working in Shinra for more than two years now. She knew that there was some sort of conspiracy between her friends and family to throw a sizable party and even the Planet was keeping silent about it, mostly anyway. Most likely at Aeris' request.

So that left her here, moving forward step by careful step to Aeris' grove, which had recently been expanded to included some deciduous trees as well as pines. The green smell of the trees, and the continuous, familiar scent of the flowers made Rill smile even as she wondered what exactly was making the Planet feel like a toddler that had been told to keep a secret.

"Keep your eyes closed." Sephiroth reminded her, taking his hands away from her eyes. She obeyed, even as she felt him pick up her hand and press it to something rough.

 _Tree bark._ She realized automatically, running her hand over it as she started to walk around it carefully. _Did he get another tree?_ A fairly young one. She could just barely span it's trunk with her hands. She could dimly sense Sephiroth standing close by. A touch on her shoulder and she stopped. Something was pressed into her hands. _Branches?_

"Ok, open..." Rill opened her eyes and gazed down at what she held.

Five petaled, blue flowers rested, clustered thickly on the small branches she held, wafting a soft fragrance into her face. _What?_ She looked up to see that she was standing beneath a tree laden with the same flowers. Looking around, she saw that there was three other trees just like it.

"What in the-?"

"They're Gongagan Jacaranda." Zack said proudly, arm slung easily around Aeris' shoulders, both beaming. "My mom had a couple saplings, and they reminded me of you!" And that would have been all the reason Zack needed. "Then Seph helped me get them here!"

 _...Did he really?_

"They're beautiful..." Rill pressed her hand to the trunk of the one closest to her, inhaling the memory of hot weather, wet air and brilliant sunlight.

"Exactly!" She felt more than heard Zack stifle a yelp as Aeris elbowed him playfully. It still set her to giggling as he tried to pinch her in vengeance and their couple-esque hold turned into a poking war.

"So...you like them?" Sephiroth asked, looking down at her. Rill smiled up at him warmly, tracing her fingers over the blossoms she held in her arms.

"I love them. Thank you." His eyes lit with a smile as he pulled her into a hug, careful not to crush what she held.

"Happy birthday, Rill."

-vVv-

"Woah, woah, easy tiger!" Reno muttered, holding Terrence back.

"Are you nuts!?" The Legendary Turk hissed. "She's gotta be at least ten years younger than he is!"

"She's eighteen today, man! Chill out, yo...! 'Sides, age is just a number."

"And jail is just a room!" Reno cast a glance at Tseng and Emma for some assistance, but the two of them were already making their way towards the house, leaving Reno to struggle against what was reputed to be the most skilled Turk since Veld's old partner, Vincent Valentine.

 _Dirty traitors, the whole lot of ya, yo!_

-vVv-

She was eighteen today.

Genesis stared at a well worn photo, of Rill when she had been in Wutai a year ago, wearing a pristine white and blue kimono. His vision blurred, his mind swimming with pain from his degradation and the alcohol he had consumed.

Finding out how young she actually was when he had started being attracted to her had been...jarring at best. Especially since she was technically jailbait when he had started wooing her! (That had been conflicting and somewhat embarrassing to find out. She had gotten a good laugh out of his dumbfounded expression. He would have sworn she was at least twenty!)

But all that was over now. She was legally an adult.

And he was stuck on the other side of the world, dying, miserably alone and looking as if he were twenty or thirty years her senior instead of seven or eight.

Rage and self loathing choked him, clawed at his throat and his fingers lit up with dark, sickly fire, reaching out for the picture. To make her stop looking at him like that. Stop smiling as if he were still the same man...

 _I'm a monster, Rill. You can't love a monster...Stop...please._

The flames had barely touched the bottom most corner of the picture when Genesis came to himself and hastily extinguished the fire, wiping away at the soot that had come from the single charred edge.

It might hurt to see her immortalized in a picture when all he wanted to do was hold her. It might tear at his soul to know that no matter what he did, she would never see him as a potential lover. It made him furious beyond all coherent thought to know that Sephiroth was still with her, working beside her, likely driving all thoughts of a lingering affection for the dying wretch that he was out of her mind.

But none of that was her fault.

He had been the one to almost kill her simply because he was too proud to get himself treated at at the infirmary. He had been the one to leave her behind despite her wishing that he wouldn't leave but being too kind hearted to ask him to stay. She had only stayed because of her loyalty to her family and her concern for them. As for Sephiroth...what was she to do? The man was a possessive demon when it came to something that he wanted. Now that he had her in his clutches, he would never let go unless someone forced him to do so.

 _He always had to have everything and always had to be the best. I suppose it makes sense that he'd decide to taunt you like this. To take the best woman, the only woman you ever loved._

He forced down the dark whispers of hatred for his former friend, too content to wallow in regret, and clung to a thin trickle of hope.

Genesis continued to stare at the photograph, even as he raised a fresh glass to her image. The memory of those few brief months when he had been able to call her a friend...

" _Happy Birthday, Rill."_


	28. Roach Traps

Rill was plotting something. Reno could tell it just to look at her. He had gotten a pretty good feel for when Rill intended on turning something upside down to get her way.

"Are you licensed as a pilot for more than a chopper?" Reno was somewhat taken aback at the abrupt question, he was hanging out in her swanky new office cause the couch was bigger and she had recently restocked her sweet stash.

"Uh, nothing bigger than that." Rill hummed, disappointed as she turned back to her computer, fingers rattling out swiftly and easily as she searched for...something.

"What are you doing, yo?" He asked, slinging his arms behind his head as he watched her. She wasn't wearing her usual work face, so likely she was manipulating her connections to hook her family up with something. He was honestly kinda surprised she didn't do more than the occasional splurge.

"Zack's birthday is in two weeks." She replied calmly. "He has recently been seen skulking around jeweler's. He has not been home, nor called his parents since he joined up." Reno's mind went blank for a split second.

"No way..." Zack was that serious about Aeris in just a few months?

"It's been more than a year." Rill's voice was mild and innocent.

"They've only been official for a couple months!"

"Aeris liked him seriously from the moment she saw him snoring in our flowerbed. I'd say Zack fell for her sometime after she managed to kick his butt in a snowball fight last Christmas." When the spot closest to the fireplace was threatened, Aeris got mean.

Reno was somewhat nonplussed and exasperated. Rill could assign times and dates and probably even the exact hour at which her foster sister's relationship had been solidified, but had somehow completely failed to notice Sephiroth falling for her like a sedated behemoth! _If she asked for a personal island, Seph would get it for her!_ The guy had it bad. Reno had dropped some questions around the Flower House, what the Turks called the Gainsborough home, and found that while Elmyra had given some tips, Sephiroth was still in the process of deciding what it was he felt.

 _Hurry the hell up, man! Stop rubbing it in already!_ Reno was somewhat...perturbed about the fact that the guy needed to make up his mind about whether or not he was in love with Rill. You didn't decide that kind of thing, it sorta just, happened!

But being who he was, Sephiroth wouldn't settle for anything but a firm answer.

Aeris chalked it up to his unconscious perfectionist tendency.

" _He was born to be the perfect warrior. He's been raised to be a perfect SOLDIER. He's been taught to be the perfect commander. Everything Sephiroth has ever done has always come easy and been mastered to an art form. Now this comes along, and Sephiroth has to fight his feelings to see where they fit into his life. And he won't accept anything but an absolute answer from himself. So, he isn't being indecisive. He's literally taking all the time he needs to sort this out. And given that he probably hasn't really thought about his feelings in years...we might be waiting for a while for this to get going."_ The betting pool was getting tense lately. And by tense, he meant vicious.

Everyone could see that Sephiroth was liking Rill more and more, and everyone with eyes could see that it was more than just platonic feelings. And while not everyone was happy about it, see also most of the Silver Elite, it was a pretty much accepted fact of life that it was happening.

And while this was happening, Rill was busy arranging a flight to Gongaga so Aeris, who wasn't even allowed outside of the slums without a guard, could meet Zack's parents.

 _They're gonna send someone with her to Gongaga, aren't they?_ Reno realized.

The scorching hot center of a jungle with a Mako Reactor not twenty miles away.

Bugs, vicious plants, monsters galore. And the people that had somehow given birth to Zack...

He resolved to book himself several missions to ensure that he would not be the one accompanying the Ancient and her boyfriend on the dreaded 'meet the parents' trip.

-vVv-

 _Don't be a coward. I trained you, So you can do this._ Cloud vehemently wished that the voice in his head that sounded exactly like Sephiroth would shut up.

He was trying again.

He was only 16 years old and he had already failed miserably twice at something most people never even tried. And yet here he was again, applying for SOLDIER.

It was relatively easy to pinpoint what had changed since his last attempt. Sephiroth did leave a rather noticeable mark on one's life. Or in Cloud's case, on his psyche and body. He had grown up working hard in the mountains just to stay alive and it had never hurt so bad as when the devil of a 1st Class SOLDIER decided to train him.

Cloud had been too confused to be grateful at first. And then he had been hurting too bad. But it had all paid off. Between the regular home cooked food from the Flower house in the Sector 5 slums and Sephiroth's brutal training, Cloud had put on a fair amount of muscle and even grown a few inches. He'd probably never match the towering height of his mentor, or even Zack's 6'1", but he was at least taller than Rill and Aeris now by a few fingers.

And there was definitely an improvement now over other tries in his academics. His written test had been mostly theory and tactics, which he had never had the most perfect grasp of, but he was more capable of seeing what answers were being sought after. Hanging around a group composed of Turks, intelligent women and two 1st Class SOLDIER was clearly good for something as far as comprehension. He had finished it feeling much more confident about his answers now that before. Around him, many of his peers, some of which looked a lot older and stronger than he was, were talking amongst themselves, joking, boasting, generally trying to make themselves feel better about their chances or intimidating the competition.

Cloud hadn't fit in before because he was the country boy, and then because he was short. Now he felt even more alienated because he was different in a new way. He looked at them now, and he saw boys talking themselves up instead of facing something they were afraid of. _Funny what hanging around Sephiroth does to your perspective of what is truly scary._

He was standing in the ranks that the applicants were ordered into, not moving a muscle. Instead of standing at attention, he had opted for parade rest to not be so hard on himself.

 _Standing at attention is only ever for show. You're short, so it'll look like you're trying to make yourself bigger than you really are if you do that. Just stand straight, be confident. And if you can't manage that, fake it._

It was startling how human the General was once Cloud got to know him in person. Much of his idolization had faded to leave only a sense of bewilderment and vague amusement in it's place. Was the man his friend now or still just a mentor who was extremely overprotective of his not-crush?

The tall, silver haired man was the paragon of perfection as a man and as a SOLDIER if the papers were to be believed. And having glimpsed him in action, Cloud was inclined to agree with the sentiment.

But the papers had never seen him up to his elbows in soapy water doing the dishes for Mrs Gainsborough. Or looking like a guilty dog when Aeris saw that some of her rose bushes had been damaged.

 _And no one would ever believe me if I told them that he's a person too._ Cloud had realized this side of Sephiroth was one that only a few people ever got to see. He felt honored and way out of his depth to be privy to this secret.

"Strife, Cloud." His name was called and while there was the familiar uncertainty and nervousness, the shame and fear of failure, Cloud moved for the yard.

First and foremost, he had been inspected head to toe in a medical physical and had some blood drawn to see if he was even viable as a candidate for SOLDIER. He had been underweight on his first try. Then there was the academic test, which was where he had failed the second time and horribly at that. He must have passed now, though, given that he was still here. Now he just had to meet whatever other requirements they wanted.

He could see right away that the inspectors weren't too confident given how his eyes just passed over him and his lips twitched back into a sneer.

 _People are going to underestimate you due to your appearance. That's their problem and it does not define what you are capable of._ Blond hair and blue eyes on a fairly scrawny kid wasn't all that impressive, but Cloud swallowed his nerves and met the man's eyes.

 _I'm not the same kid I was before. I'm better now..._

He hadn't thought that he would find friends here of all places. Not after how many people had put so much work into him.

 _Mrs Gainsborough._ Being away from Mom was hard. And Cloud could never adequately express how much the kindly woman had helped him by stepping in for Skye Strife when she couldn't help him.

 _Zack._ The crazy 1st Class SOLDIER, a title Cloud could scarcely believe had been bestowed on someone as clownish and goofy as Zack! He had managed to get his entire barracks flooded with ranch dressing of all things! Cloud had been caught up in the mess, figuratively and literally, and dragged to the production plant alongside the bouncy older teen and he still didn't know how it had all happened! Maybe it was Zack's version of revenge from that time Cloud's alcohol tolerance was shown to be higher than his...

If there was one thing Zack taught him, it was to enjoy life no matter what happened and to embrace whatever came, good and bad alike.

 _Sephiroth._ His idol turned teacher. Cloud had never in his wildest dreams dared imagine that the general would pay the slightest bit of attention to him. And here he was with almost a year of personal training from the man under his belt, in sword and magic alike!

 _Rill and Aeris._ Being his friends, helping him when he was down, showing him how to pick himself up and how not to give any ground even when people talked down at you. Showing him how beauty grew even in the harshest of circumstances. Connecting him to his family, leading him through his shame.

There were many people here that he didn't want to disappoint. So Cloud wasn't going to be holding anything back.

(The fact that Sephiroth had threatened to strip him naked and dump in into the lowest level of the monster infested sewers if he failed was...only a slight motivational factor. Cloud knew he could just get Rill to come and save him and then watch with carefully hidden delight as the tiny slip of a woman tore Sephiroth a new one.)

-vVv-

"I knew it!" Zack whooped, grabbing the recently promoted 3rd Class SOLDIER in a monstrous bear hug. "I knew you had it in you little buddy, congrats man!" Cloud, his eyes aglow with the recent infusion of Mako, looked somewhat astounded at his success even though it had already been several hours since the announcement. Rill saw a slightly twitch in the younger boy's muscles though that made her speak up.

"Zack, let him go. You know what a fresh Mako treatment is like." His body probably felt like sack of electrified jelly. He felt energized and perky, but in action, he was still mostly droopy and...slightly ill.

Rill caught Cloud as he staggered and slipped one of his arms over her shoulder. _It's a lot harder to carry him now that it was before._ He had put on weight and height so that was unsurprising.

"Zack, help me get him home." Rill looked around for the 1st Class and sighed when she saw what he was doing. "Zack, stop dancing and help."

"-suck it losers cause li'l Cloudy's gonna help me save the world! Booya!"

"Zack-"

"Best sidekick ever!"

"I thought he was loud before..." Cloud groaned, trying to cover his ears without falling down.

"You know, I almost managed to forget that he'd be getting a refresher injection today as well..."

-vVv-

But there was no time to really celebrate.

In mid June, only a few days before Zack and Aeris left on the trip that Rill had arranged for them, AVALANCHE attacked Shinra Tower again. Rill didn't get to see much of what happened given that Sephiroth swept into her office like a grim reaper and escorted her out of the tower and well out of danger.

 _I pity anyone who crosses him right now._ This was the General in his full glory and Rill didn't anticipate anyone with the persistent desire to live interfering with him right now.

Because of her silent, deadly and very noticeable shadow, Rill didn't even see the Ravens that were reported to have invaded the tower and abducted Hojo.

 _They can keep him._ Her instincts were telling her with persistently louder and louder warnings that Hojo was planning something involving her.

 _You really want someone with no sense of ethics or morals sided with AVALANCHE?_ Aeris asked as Rill sat in the lower level of Shinra tower that had been reinforced to serve as a civilian bunker. While most people would be evacuated, Rill was seeing a surprising amount of people enter the protected space.

 _Why is that surprising? Sephiroth's guarding it. It's probably the safest place in the city right now._ Rill answered her cousin with a held in sigh.

 _Because Sephiroth is nowhere present. Only the General is here. And most people are terrified of him._

 _Most people haven't seen the difference like you have._ That was true at least.

Rill glanced around the windowless room, slightly bored. It was almost certainly the most secure place for her to be if she had to remain in Shinra Tower. But she wasn't doing anything and it was going to drive her insane-!

Rill carefully maintained her boredom to avoid becoming restless and edgy. Better that she look bored but calm than nervous and twitchy. It would have a strong effect on those who were currently in this enclosed space with her.

It was mostly some key people from the financial department, a few clerks, and people that hadn't managed to get out in time before lockdown was initiated to try and catch whatever AVALANCHE members were still in the building. But there was also one person who hadn't been able to move fast enough due to wearing enormously impractical high heels.

"-send them running in just a few minutes if they'd let me use my babies on them!" Scarlet's voice wasn't shrill naturally, but it did grate painfully on Rill's ears since she was using Tremor-sense to try and determine what was going on outside the room. Sephiroth was still there and he didn't look as though he was about to move.

 _Goddess grant me the patience to deal with some people and the wisdom to hide the bodies..._

-vVv-

"I'm fine, Sephiroth. You can stop hovering now." Rill was heading home after a long, tiring period of time when the building still hadn't been cleared from AVALANCHE. Hojo had been recovered and he was, unfortunately, no worse for the wear, just grouchy.

"Humor me, Rill." He said in a voice that was dry, but his shoulders were tense and his eyes sharp and wary as he looked around. "Given what happened last time, I'd rather not risk you getting taken again." _Even though I was only kidnapped to try and coerce Genesis?_ Rill wasn't sure how to feel about the arm Sephiroth had around her shoulders as they walked to her apartment. Rill's quick glance told her that the Turks were in position and watching, so she would probably be safe to sleep for several hours.

"Once is only a coincidence."

"I'd rather not allow it to happen twice and become a pattern."

Rill had no reasonable response to that, or at least not one that she felt would elicit a positive reaction from him, so she remained silent. She saw several people rubberneck after them, staring openly and felt her face flush with embarrassment.

The rumors about them being in a relationship would only get harder and harder to dispel after this.

-vVv-

 _They are off to Gongaga and Zack will be on his best behavior for the duration of the trip because he is accompanied by Aeris, and going to see his mother. Ergo, for the next two weeks, no incidents from him._ The trip had not been delayed by the attack, despite some efforts to keep Zack, a sorely needed 1st Class, in Midgar for show and faux deployment.

Rill examined several messages from certain people, only one stood out to her though.

' _I can't find Reno and his last message said something about cheese whiz and cactuars.'_ Rill stared at the message for several long minutes. She had thought that something so blatantly obvious and overused shouldn't need to be corrected anymore...

 _Reno still thinks that angry cactuars are pacified by cheese whiz?_ The Cetra sighed.

 _Of course...Zack might be out of the picture for the time being, but Reno is back in business and worse than ever..._

-vVv-

Sephiroth listened to Rill as she spoke on the phone. Tseng had come into her office, handed her the phone without a word and promptly sat down and started to drink straight from a bottle of scotch. He raised a brow at her and she hit speakerphone as he sat down, taking a draught of some chilled tea that Rill favored for the latter summer months.

"Reno, the only thing that Tseng did was walk in, hand me the phone then start to knock back some scotch. What exactly are you doing?"

" _I'm looking for a bathroom!"_

"Ok, where are you then?"

" _Wutai! South eastern portion!"_ Rill thought for a moment.

"The vacation area?"

" _Yeah! They said there were public bathrooms everywhere around here, yo! I'm not finding anything 'cept a buncha hot springs and naked women! Not that I really mind that part-"_

"Reno, when a Wutain says 'public bathroom' they literally mean 'public bathing chamber.' Not a restroom." Sephiroth chuckled as he watched Rill's expression become something fond, exasperated and irritated all at once.

" _What the hell?! Why didn't they just say so, yo!?"_

"Probably because they're enjoying the sight of you racing around like a headless chicken."

Sephiroth tuned out for the rest of the conversation where Rill talked Reno through the proper phrasing to find a restroom. He was cataloging how much he liked her expression as her temper was pushed to the borders of its control.

He decided that he liked it. It was certainly amusing, though most might not see it like that since she looked a little stressed and frazzled, something that would fade within minutes after she hung up the call. It was far from her best look, but it was oddly endearing nonetheless to see her mouth twist in incredulity and her eyes widen slightly.

' _You love their imperfections...'_

 _Check._

-vVv-

Reno knew that he was in trouble when he glanced at his phone. Rill calling him...that had only happened three other times. And he had his reasons for this time...she couldn't get too mad at him, right...?

Well, granted, his reasons weren't...always on mission. Really, though, he had to maintain his reputation after a year of behaving himself due to being glued to Rill's side. The former slum girl was amazing and all, but he had barely had any real fun that whole time!

"Oh, hey Rill! What's up?"

" _A prize Black Chocobo intended for high stakes racing, worth slightly more than half your annual salary."_ She replied sweetly. Reno flinched. _Crap. I didn't think they'd be onto me that soon..._

"...Zack did it?"

" _Zack is in Gongaga, Reno. And I'm looking at picture evidence right now. Try again."_ Her tone was still pleasant, but Reno heard the danger signals loud and clear. He had about...two minutes of leeway to keep explaining before she called out the big guns.

Reno didn't think he wanted to go through another dry spell of her getting him banned from any and all bars and cutting him off from her baking. (Some off duty, severely sloshed Turks had decided, after some discussion, that the Promised Land could be reached through Rill's baking. He had been among them and agreed wholeheartedly. She was just as good a cook too!)

"Look, Rill, I'm got a lead on this leak we've been tracking. I needed to get over the mountains and to this tiny little island fast! I couldn't afford to wait for a chopper or boat, or the trail would have gone cold!" He heard a sigh from over the line.

" _Return the bird within three days or you'll be charged for theft."_

"Sure thing boss-lady." Reno hung up the call and exhaled heavily before addressing the male stud chocobo. "That was close, Blackspike. We almost got roasted." The massive bird gave his species signature cry and bobbed his head, straining to reach the gysahl greens Reno was using to bribe him to cooperate.

The Turk held them just out of reached and carefully scratched under the dark feathered chocobo's chin, whose eyes drooped with contentment.

"Yeah, you're a nice chocobo, yes you are...!"

-vVv-

"Rill, if anyone asks, I was in Gongaga." Rill raised her brows at the redheaded turk as he cowered, peeking hastily around the corner and flinching occasionally.

"Reno. Why are you hiding behind my couch?" He jumped and whirled around, looking up at her with wide pleading eyes.

"Don't let her find me...!" Rill patted his head consolingly.

"Don't worry Reno, you know that the Time-out box is sacrosanct in regards to restraining orders."

-vVv-

Hunts-in-shadows smelt something rank.

His back stiffened and his tail lashed angrily.

Some daring scavenger had the nerve to believe that they could simply walk into his territory and threaten his packmate!

" _Dark Nation. Down."_ The designation his human had given him reminded him that he was supposed to not act aggressively unless signaled. It was how his human used his appearance to his advantage as he sought to become an Alpha.

The guard-hound settled down, though he still wanted to rumble threats and warnings at the suddenly uneasy herbivore his human had been speaking to. _Nerilka_ or _Rill_ were the human designations that Eye-of-the-Storm possessed and he recognized both of them. She had been mentioned in the verbal discourse and the herbivore had reacted as any animal would in the presence of a superior threat: A strange smell of hostile-fear that could result either in him fleeing before her Planet-bestowed fangs and claws, or him attempting to lay an ambush from behind.

As a predator, Hunts-in-shadows understood the need for stealth when stalking prey. But Eye-of-the-Storm was Pack. And one does not let outsiders harm the Pack.

He would need to approach Silver-Alpha. He had to act swiftly before Eye-of-the-Storm was outwitted by carrion, a fate that was not fitting for a child of the Planet. But being near her wasn't enough, no. The Alpha needed to finally take his chance and claim her as his mate. Simply claiming her as part of his Pack hadn't been enough to keep her safe, thus a more sacred and profound bond was needed. Hunt-in-shadows could not communicate with Silver-Alpha to the same degree as Eye-of-the-Storm, but they had had effective dealings in the past and this threat was most certainly something that the fearsome hunter would not approve of. Now how to get the clever, but still mostly deaf, human to understand what he meant...?

Hunts-in-shadows rose fluidly, baring his teeth at the herbivore as he hastily skittered back from him like a nervous spider.

" _Remain calm. He's just taking himself for a walk."_ The guard-hound made straight for the heart Silver-Alpha's territory.

" _You...let him wander around without a leash?"_ he heard his human bare his teeth in a seemingly friendly display of dominance.

" _Dark Nation does as he pleases."_

-vVv-

Emma stared.

Reno stared back, apparently unconcerned.

"Rill?" The blond woman began. "Why is there a cardboard box sitting in your office and more importantly, why is Reno sitting in it?"

Nerilka Thomas, the single most valuable woman ever to walk through Shinra's doors, smiled at Emma, codename: Gun.

"He's in time-out for the Race to El Dorado, the Zolom That Was Not and sundry other incidents that all occurred within the last week." And the fact that Rill didn't even looked flustered by the fact that all of this had taken place and most of it had been shunted to her to fix even as she managed the technicalities of the SOLDIER department, only made her rise still more in Emma's estimation.

"So how long until he comes out?" She asked, looking back at the boxed Turk. Rill tapped her cheek thoughtfully as she mused aloud.

"I haven't pinned down the exact number. Calculating two hours for every million gil, both spent on collateral and translated social damage..." Emma paled and Reno's shoulders hunched and his calm facade broke into one of undeniable nerves.

"Hades..." Emma breathed.

"Oh yes."


	29. Going Home

The next piece of excitement in Rill's life came when there was a sighting of AVALANCHE agents in the Sector 5 Slums near her aunt's home.

"They appear to have been looking for Aeris, but since she's still in Gongaga, they missed her and left without any trouble." Terrence was usually laid back, but he was still on edge, as evidenced by the fact that he appeared to be making grenades by hand where he sat.

"They didn't hurt anyone?" Rill asked, sitting at her aunt's kitchen table. The woman herself had not been approached, but she had seen the strangers pass by and go straight for Aeris' church.

"Nah. Barely even seemed to see anyone." The Turk that had been codenamed 'Legend' ran his hand through his tousled orange hair. "But they knew where she is and what she is. That's the only reason they could have had for coming here in the first place." _But they don't know that I'm a Cetra too. Or at least I think they don't._ Rill honestly had to wonder how many of the Turks that had been stationed to guard Aeris had guessed that the two girls relationship might be more closely related than they claimed. As Zack had enthusiastically pointed out, they did share a certain resemblance to one another when one looked past their different coloring.

"It's lucky that she wasn't here then." Rill said, refilling her chilled tea. "But if they wanted her for being an Ancient, they wouldn't have hurt her. She'd just have gotten a little scared."

"Yeah, guess you're right." Terrence took a sip from his pocket flask, then gave it a displeased look. "Empty. Bah. You know, I will never understand how Elmyra could raise a little terror like you without booze."

"I was not that bad!"

"You turned all of Knuckles' clothes inside out while he was sleeping."

"He shouldn't have let down his guard."

"You filled Judo's cigarette case with pocky and lollipops without him noticing."

"Horrible habit. He really ought to quit before his breath becomes a lost cause."

"You wander into the entry level of the sewers and had to be tracked down because you got adopted by a slaad. And even after we retrieved you, all the nestlings that you had interacted with continue to this day to keep pests out of your garden." Rill was silent...then sighed and blushed.

"Ok, you got me there."

"Damn straight I do, Rillie."

-vVv-

There was once again a period of heightened security around the Gainsborough home when Aeris returned. But Rill wasn't able to visit quite so much since apparently there had been an incident at Costa de Sol, where Zack had been sent promptly after returning from Gongaga.

The reappearance of Genesis copies. Not the falling apart, sick ones from the last sightings, but new ones that looked eerily similar to the ex-SOLDIER.

" _Look, I didn't have my sword, and I had to improvise! I'd be dead without it!"_

"Zack, I really don't think we'd be able to get an 'umbrella wielding combat class' off the ground."

" _You could convince a penguin it could fly."_ Rill sighed and said in a single breath:

"That would require my being able to effectively communicate with said flightless avian and be able to rework its psychical characteristics in order to reverse centuries of climate based evolution within a human lifespan." There was a beat of silence from Zack...

" _You lost me."_

"On the contrary, I know exactly where you are." She quipped cheerfully. He groaned from the other side of the line.

" _I'm buried up to my chin in sand, debris and dead fish, I can't feel my anything from the ribs down and I have no shirt on. Could you please just send someone to dig me out?"_

"Fangirls getting closer, huh?"

" _They aren't human...!"_

-vVv-

 _I wholeheartedly agree with Zack's assessment of the fangirl race._ Rill thought, looking at a picture, disturbed and heartily embarrassed.

Apparently some observant and/or slightly delusional individual had caught onto the fact that Genesis had been interested in her. She knew they were observant because of the sheer detail of the drawing, a picture of the Crimson Commander himself escorting her down Loveless Avenue with an arm around her shoulders.

The delusional part came from a similar drawing of her and Sephiroth, only this time the setting was in some green park somewhere.

The pictures were followed with a short caption: " _I want to be this woman, and yet, I don't. Because I'd have to choose!"_ In addition to this, there were also several other pictures that showed artistic variants on the dresses she had worn to publicity events. All made her out as far more beautiful than she really was and seemed to toe a line of making her seemed older or younger than her actual age.

Rill blushed heavily. This was when she mentally cursed the meddlesome media, right?

"Rill? What's wrong?" A string of expletives raced through her mind as she briefly fumbled for something to do with her hands before plastering on a passable smile and turning towards Sephiroth, who seemed to have taken note of her flushed appearance.

"Does it ever get easier to realize that people waste their time drawing fanart of you?" Contrary to what she wanted, this prompted him to approach and lean over her shoulder as he was wont, though he carefully kept his hair from falling in her face. What he thought of the first two sketches and their contents didn't show on his face. But he looked rather carefully at the pictures that showed only her.

"Passable." He said finally after a long, tense silence. "Who drew these?"

"They've kept themselves anonymous, but at least one of them has to be a security guard or have access to the cameras." Rill's face felt hot enough to fry a chocobo egg. "The angle of reference for some of the shots is ideally placed to come from a security camera..."

Sephiroth hummed and closed out of the social media website that the images came from, but hesitated before returning to his office.

"People devoting their time to drawing you is hardly what I would call a waste of time." _And here I thought my face couldn't get any hotter!_ Rill resisted the urge to fidget like a schoolgirl who couldn't take a compliment. "They're quite good actually. If I didn't have the real thing with me constantly, I'd almost want a copy." _There...are only so many ways that a comment like that can be taken...!_

Rill was so very glad that there wasn't much else that absolutely had to get done that day, because she was busy sitting at her desk and having a small freakout session.

 _This is not good, not good not good!_

She managed to convince herself that everything was relatively normal and Sephiroth hadn't just shown...interest. Eventually. _It was just a compliment and his weird possessive tendencies showing up. Nothing more!_

Aeris, for once, was silent in the back of her mind.

-vVv-

There was a formal mission request in from the Turks who had been doing a little advance scouting around some old reactors.

Almost a month back, there had been a report of a worker from Nibelheim disappearing. Given the location smack in the middle of the Nibel Mountains, filled to the brim with all sorts of dangerous creatures, it wasn't that unusual for there to be a brief scare of this nature. But when one became two, then four, and finally six, action had been taken.

"Apparently it's important enough that you are specifically requested." She told Sephiroth, hiding any lingering awkwardness that she felt behind the need to do her job.

"That mission could take up to a month." He said, scowling, clearly displeased.

"You've been stuck in the city for four months, and you're getting restless. Don't deny it. I can tell. You're forgetting that this could also take as little as three days." She reminded him.

"Not if the problem isn't something I can just kill..." _There is something very wrong with that mentality..._

"Considering that it isn't known what took the workers, it could either be something as simple as an intelligence mutation in a local pack of Nibel wolves or freak super species of the common cold from the refiners. Either way, you're only job is to stick around long enough to kill the monsters, if there even are any."

"Why is it that both of those theories involve the side effects of Mako?" Sephiroth inquired, mood still clearly subdued but somewhat more at ease.

"Because it's a viable option and one that can never truly be ruled out." Rill replied archly. "Given how old the place is, it's far more likely that the problem is an internal one. Probably a trace amount of refined Mako that leaked into the groundwater or something."

"The President won't like that idea." Sephiroth reclined in his chair, gaze thoughtful as he began to consider the possibilities. "He'd have to tear down the old structure, stow all radioactive materials, and build an entirely new one from scratch if the issue isn't a simple patch job." Which was a sinkhole for time and resources to a tiny, out of the way village with little to no commercial value. _Makes you wonder why he built one all the way out there in the first place..._

The obvious answer was there was some other benefit to the location that wasn't immediately visible.

"The President may have no choice depending on how this reaches the public's ears." Rill said dryly. "According to the job request, you have your pick of who comes with you. Just limited to two or three additional SOLDIER, rank unspecified and a half squad of infantry." A squad was a dozen men altogether, so for Sephiroth, plus the other SOLDIER and the six troopers, it was still under ten. A small mission all things told, though somewhat overpowered considering that Sephiroth was being sent out in person.

"I'll take Zack and Cloud." Sephiroth said after a moment's deliberation. "If Zack's with me, then he's not causing trouble for you here and Cloud's a local, so that ought to be useful in determining local threats."

"You just want to train with him without people following your every little move." _And you want to do something nice for him, but you'll never admit that._ Rill still wasn't exactly sure why Sephiroth had started training the young blonde boy, but it had certainly become a great source of pride for him to see how his pupil was progressing. She thought he would start preening when Cloud's rankings in the new 3rd Classes was announced. (The former washout infantry had made it into the top five and was listed as being most likely to be promoted to 2nd Class.)

"He needs the experience." Sephiroth said definitively. "I can't keep sending him into the sewers for hunting, everything down there has started to wise up to him and runs more often than not." Rill wasn't surprised to hear that. Cloud was something of a prodigy when it came to fighting monsters and swiftly improving at fighting people.

"Alright, but please, don't send him up against a dragon or something."

"Nibel Dragons live at an altitude of 10'000 feet or more and their population is rather sparse considering the lack of food. It's very unlikely we'll encounter any." Rill raised her eyebrows.

"Seph, you're taking Zack with you. What do you think will happen?" The general sighed.

"The truck breaks down just as we're heading into the mountains and a dragon attacks while we're fixing it."

"Quite likely. Just remember that Cloud has motion sickness so having some ginger candy on hand will do him some good and if he can't sit up front, let him lie down. There's no guarantee that the Mako has penetrated his system deeply enough to relieve him of that."

-vVv-

Rill heard Aeris sigh, yet again.

 _Seriously? He's only been gone for a day._ She shot a look at her cousin from across their living room. The slightly older Cetra was fidgeting with a silky pink ribbon that Zack had gotten for her. Rill had glanced over it more closely and almost started to choke with laughter.

Zack had gotten her a combat ribbon. One that had signs of luck and protection woven into them. No one was quite sure how or why they worked, but they would protect the wearer completely from any number of ills. They only worked when the designs were worked into certain kinds of silk, though. They also cost a small fortune. _I guess Sephiroth's extravagant gift choices have rubbed off on Zack._

 _A person doesn't have to be gone for that long for you to miss them._ Aeris retorted a little huffily in the face of her cousin's brutal callousness.

 _One. Day. Actually, not even that considering he left this morning._

Aeris threw a pillow at her, which Rill deflected calmly, a smile curving the corners of her mouth.

She might tease, but she was glad for Aeris. She had found someone who made her small world much bigger simply by being there. She laughed and enjoyed herself genuinely with him around and never felt quite like the world was on her shoulders. In turn, Zack had been a lot more reliable and mature. Ironically, he had also committed some of his most heinous acts of idiocy ever because he had unfortunately figured out that Aeris thought his behavior was funny.

Rill slumped back into the couch, closing her eyes and deliberately trying to expel all stress from her body. She didn't know when Sephiroth would be back, but even calculating for the minimum possible time, it would be a few days until he was back. Which meant she was running the department by herself.

 _Goddess help me._

-vVv-

Sephiroth didn't know what kind of miracle Rill's intuition was, but he wasn't complaining.

True to his formulated 'worst case scenario', the truck had broken down just as they were entering the Nibel Mountains. Zack had gone off because he thought he saw some unknown flowers that he wanted to collected for Rill and Aeris and had come back with a dragon on his tail.

"Only you, Zack...Only you." Cloud's green tinted face had receded somewhat after time in the open air without the jostling of the truck.

"What? I got the flowers!" Zack held up a plant of purple white flowers that he had managed to keep undamaged. He was carefully holding a clump of earth with the root ball underneath it and he was grinning like an idiot. "Do ya think she'll like them?"

Intellectually, Sephiroth knew that he was probably talking about Aeris. But this tiny voice was wondering just how Zack saw Rill given that he had been loyal to her long before he became a part of their extended family. _Should I find something for Rill too?_

"Zack, how do you plan on getting those back to Midgar in one piece?" Cloud asked skeptically. "In case you forgot, we've got about a thousand miles between us and them."

"I'll make it work!...Say do you know what flowers these are, Cloudy?"

"A species of columbine, I think. I'd have to ask Ma, I don't know the exact name." Sephiroth examined the deteriorating corpse of the dragon he had killed, speeding the process with a tightly controlled application of Fire. He only gave have an ear to what his friend and pupil were discussing. He was otherwise occupied with thinking about what had been mentioned.

He was two continents and an entire ocean away from Rill. And this realization was not pleasant. It had barely been three days and he was already anxiously looking forward to going home to her.

 _Home._ When he thought of it, he thought of the cozy wooden house in the Sector 5 slum. Elmyra and Aeris were important parts of his life now. Given some self reflection, he would call them his family. But he was still not sure where exactly Rill should fit into his life.

The only real certainty in that was she was always, without fail, there. Zack, Cloud, the Gainsborough women, they all might pass out of his life at some point, but Rill never would. He knew that, somehow.

 _Thinking in the long term about them._

 _Check._

-vVv-

Tifa was nervous about meeting the party from Shinra.

The Turk who had called himself 'Legend' had asked her to guide the investigation team from the company to the reactor. She had been ready to call him insane, since the reactor was being circled, guarded almost, by a bunch of dragons who were moving out of season and their usual territory. But then he assured her that SOLDIER's would be sent out to take care of the dragons and escort the three scientists who were stationed at the Manor to evaluate the reactor once they made sure it was safe.

SOLDIER. Shinra's elite fighting force.

The group Cloud had left to join.

Tifa wanted to know what he was up to. If he had achieved his dream or not. Paying for postage all the way to Midgar was more than her parents were willing to do. Especially for Cloud, the least popular boy in town. The outsider, the delinquent who had gotten their daughter injured. But she still burned with curiosity. The normally fearless girl was just too nervous to ask his mother about him though considering that they hadn't been that close...

But here she was, waiting for the Shinra team she would be leading into the mountains in a few days time.

 _Calm. I can handle this. I know the routes like the back of my hand, Zangan has taught me well, and whatever I can't beat, the SOLDIER's can. I can handle this. Wait. That's..._

 _RED ALERT! CANNOT HANDLE!_

Tifa automatically felt her face turn bright red when she caught a glimpse of the mission leader speaking to her father.

 _Sephiroth. The General Sephiroth!_ The next time she saw that orange haired Turk who got her into this, she was going to throttle him for springing this on her! Escorting some SOLDIER was one thing, but the commander in chief that was known the world over for never once losing a fight!?

Her half baked plans about asking after Cloud went up in smoke. No way in Hades would she embarrass herself like that in front of him!

Sephiroth looked much like the recruitment ads she had seen as he spoke to her dad. Composed, calm and unquestionably in command. Tifa could already see the girls her age who had found some excuse to watch were hanging on his every word, looking like Christmas had come early. No doubt, there would be an upsurge of dreamy eyed girls and women as a result of this visit.

But Tifa's gaze was drawn away from the honestly imposing man to the one standing just to his right with about half a dozen men behind him.

Unlike the General's level featured, this man was wearing a friendly, almost cheeky smile.

His hair was a series of wild black spikes and his eyes glowed more blue that Tifa had ever seen. Despite the fact that he was almost a foot taller than she was and carried a sword that looked as though it weighed as much as he did on his back, he didn't look at all intimidating.

If anything, the way he was looking at everything and the eagerness he projected made him look like a big, friendly dog.

Tifa forced her attention back onto Sephiroth as her father motioned her forward.

"My daughter, Tifa, will be guiding you to the reactor."

"Miss." Sephiroth nodded at her, Tifa steeled herself and smiled at him.

"General."

"I was informed that you had seen what was going on at the reactor. What appeared to be the problem?" Just a concise report. Tifa could manage that much at least...

"There were dragons all around the reactor. I only saw three of those but there were also a lot of other monsters as well. All in the same place like that, natural predators should have been hunting like there's no tomorrow with winter coming. But they didn't fight at all." It was getting harder to get her tongue to form the words properly when he was looking at her with brilliant green eyes that Tifa hadn't seen outside of the faint glow that surrounded natural materia.

"Thank you, Miss Lockheart."

"P-please, just call me Tifa." Her face flamed at her minute, barely there stutter, certain that he had heard it.

Not much else was addressed at her after Sephiroth had taken in this piece of information.

Mrs Strife welcomed the Shinra party into her home. She had actually been quite insistent on it and Mayor Lockheart had eventually caved.

Tifa was agitated throughout dinner and all the night, cursing herself for not speaking up about Cloud when she had the chance. Then again, doing so under her father's nose might not have been prudent as he was still not a fan of his.

 _I'll do it...I'll ask him tomorrow. No chickening out this time!_ She told herself fiercely as she went to bed that night.

However, even her resolve failed in the face of being informed by the dark haired SOLDIER that Sephiroth was occupied with morning training.

"Whatcha need him for anyway, miss?" He inquired with a quizzical look.

"I...Um..." _Stop it! You're not some scared little girl anymore! Speak up!_ She stiffened her back, steadied her voice and met his gaze as best she could considering that he dwarfed her in size.

"It's about a friend of mine...You see, he left to join SOLDIER a couple years ago and I just wanted to know how he was." The grin that flashed across his face was as bright and warm as a sunbeam.

"I'm Sephiroth's second in command, miss. What's your buddies name?"

"Cloud Strife, Mr Fair." His grin turned devilish for a split second, but it happened so quickly that Tifa thought it might have been her imagination.

"I've heard of him. He's doing fine." He glanced at the sky. "Sorry to cut this short, but I actually need to go get the others. Mrs Strife won't be happy if we're late for breakfast." Tifa watched him go, feeling rather unsatisfied.

He was hiding something.

And she was just stubborn enough about this to subtly creep after him.

-vVv-

Zack appraised the dark haired girl who was about Spikey's age.

The little cretin had been holding out on him! He never said he had a girlfriend waiting for him! This would be suitable payback and good entertainment.

Well, if there was something there at all. There was a chance, however slim, that they were 'just friends'. Sure, given that they were both a couple of teenagers made that about as believable as Scarlet actually wearing suitable work clothes, but there was always the possibility. He'd just play it by ear and see how this worked out. If all was as he suspected (hoped) then he had just gained a whole slew of brand spanking new teasing material for his taciturn friend/subordinate. And dirt on the girl too!

 _Have to get her in contact with Aeris and the other's, see how she measures up for Cloudy._ Throwing her to the women's mercy was mean, but Zack felt that would be a suitable screening test. He didn't even want to think about what Rill would have done to him if she hadn't already been his bestie. (Sorta bestie. Zack had learned to be careful about claiming relationships from Rill with Sephiroth in earshot.)

He's seen the photos of what Cloud looked like before he joined the army. Now that he was a SOLDIER, he looked loads better. Adding some height, weight and swagger to one's step did wonders. Zack couldn't help but be proud of the little guy even though Sephiroth was almost jealously possessive of his position as his tutor.

Tifa Lockheart. A little shy at first, but gutsy once she got herself together. The mayor's daughter and the town darling if he was reading things correctly. But she was doing a reasonable job of sneaking after him, and she'd be guiding them through the mountains too. That made Zack wonder what kind of training she'd gotten. Probably martial arts of some kind, from the way she moved.

Sephiroth had roused Cloud out of bed at the unmerciful hour of four AM to put him through his paces in a stretch of empty ground between the village and the mountain side. Zack grinned as he headed in their direction.

 _So you want to see Cloud, do you, girlie? I'll get you an eyeful, then..._

-vVv-

Tifa followed the SOLDIER to the slightly removed stretch of land on the other side of Shinra Manor where Sephiroth was working out with his pupil.

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting to see.

It definitely wasn't Sephiroth trying to stare down an unmoving blonde boy.

The young martial artist didn't need to hold down a gasp of shock. She was too stunned to breath for an instant.

It was Cloud! With hair like that, there couldn't be any mistaking it! Cloud was meeting Sephiroth's gaze without any fear or defference.

"Yo, Seph, Cloudy! You done trying to kill each other yet?" Zack hailed them, trotting across the level ground to meet them. Sephiroth continued to glare at the blonde.

"I have yet to truly begin..." There was an edge to his voice that would have made Tifa quail because he sounded...extremely annoyed. Zack patted his back consolingly.

"Chill out. It's a donut, Sephiroth. And you already had three."

"Filled with strawberry jelly. The last one!"

 _General Sephiroth...is arguing with Cloud over who gets the last jelly filled donut..._

It felt as though she had entered a twilight zone.

Tifa stayed out of sight, watching in slight disbelief as Cloud interacted with two 1st Class SOLDIERs, one of them General Sephiroth, as if he was their friend. Cloud! The kid who barely said a word to anyone! But they couldn't be anything but friends!

They appeared to be discussing when they would be going back to Cloud's home for breakfast. (It suddenly made perfect sense why Mrs Strife would insist on hosting the SOLDIER members of the party.)

"Give us another fifteen minutes and then we'll head back." Sephiroth picked up his sword and swung it through the air with the barest flick of his wrist.

"And don't use all the hot water this time." Zack yanked Cloud down and gave him a noogie, a boisterous laugh ringing through the air.

"What? You want me to go into your mom's kitchen smelling like you usually do?"

"How you smell doesn't matter if I smell like an open grave, now get off!"

Tifa hastily shrank back before Zack could see her.

It seemed as though Cloud had in fact made it into SOLDIER and was doing very well for himself.

She was briefly annoyed as to why Zack couldn't just tell her! Was there some reason Cloud had been wearing his helmet the previous day? Did he want no one but his mom to know he was back in town?

Actually, it made a saddening amount of sense.

Cloud didn't like causing discord. The presence of an esteemed SOLDIER like Sephiroth wouldn't have changed the fact that people would still have been distrustful and dismissing of Cloud. So he had just kept himself anonymous to everyone except his mother.

Tifa pushed down the flicker of hurt that he hadn't come to her. It wasn't as though they had been that close before...

But looking at how he had changed, how much he had grown up, Tifa found herself wanting to know him. Had this strong, certain Cloud been there all along? Or was it a product of his time in the army and his friends?

 _I made you promise that you'd always come when I needed help..._ Tifa thought, biting her lip as Cloud began to spar with Sephiroth, the older man occasionally calling him out on some flaw or mistake and correcting it. _A lot of people saw my grief, but they just told me to let go and get over it. To let the dead rest in peace._

 _You didn't say anything. You hardly ever did._

 _But you acted. When you saw me going into danger, you didn't try to convince me to stop or turn back, you followed me. You tried to protect me._

The girl started to retreat, a feeling of inadequacy and earnest admiration swelling in her as she watched the boy she had grown up alongside and never truly known be taught by a legend.

 _It can't have been easy for you back then, to be blamed for my mistake. I was so confused and stupid that I didn't even realize how wrong everything was for years. And by then, there was no way for me to ever try to fix what had happened._

He had promised to come for her though...so maybe things weren't so hopeless as she had thought.


	30. Shadows from the Past

Cloud had grown up in these mountains, but he had never dared venture this far into the wilderness. The monsters got mean around the reactor. He'd have been torn to shreds if he had tried this as a kid.

He punted a Nibel Wolf back, letting out a low growl at the large canine as he brought his sword back up catching it on it's return lunge with the flat of his sword, knocking it unconscious. Zack was doing the same. No wolf had dared come near Sephiroth or the infantry that he was guarding. Tifa was quickly and easily binding up a nasty bite on one man's arm.

Seeing the girl after so long had left an odd sensation of detachment in Cloud's stomach. She was... Well, it was easy to see that she was in her teens by now. It looked as though she had finally gotten Zangan to accept her as a student as she had always wanted. She had only rarely spoken up about her wish as a child, since almost everything she said would end up getting back to her parents. Being the mayor's daughter can't have been easy for acting out. It had always seemed as though her actions reflected very strongly on their reputation, so Tifa had always been extremely careful about who she played with and what she did.

"Why aren't we just- killing them again!?" Zack complained, punching out a large, scarred wolf with a grunt.

"Because the wolves keep down the wild goats and deer." And if the deer population rose too high, they ate down the greenery higher up the mountain, and stripped down the saplings, causing them to die. The lack of tree and plant roots made avalanches more likely. These covered up the roads and made the trapping cabins and hunting trails inaccessible during the winter, making fuel and food supplies run short.

All in all, they needed the wolves. The dragons didn't hunt the small, sure footed goats and deer often enough to keep their population in check.

"Give me a touch-me or a man eating plant any day..." Zack grumbled. "No one gets touchy about roasting them..." Cloud rolled his eyes.

"You heard Tifa, no magic." Given they were located at the bottom of a narrow ravine, he would think that Zack could see why making a sudden, loud burst of sound would be a bad thing.

 _He's from the jungle._ Cloud reminded himself, laying the last wolf out flat with an ease he had never thought he would possess. _Doesn't get how much damage an avalanche can actually cause._ Most of the citizens of Midgar didn't understand what the terrorist group meant by calling themselves that. An avalanche was a very real, very dangerous threat. Once one started, there was just no way to stop it and it would devour everything in it's path without mercy or remorse.

The fact that an anti-Shinra group had taken such a name said a lot about their end goal and what they were willing to do to get there. Cloud wasn't the most cunning person in the world, but he still got a bad vibe off of that group.

-vVv-

Cloud would have thought that travelling with Tifa would be more awkward than it was. But the anonymity of a helmet went a long way. He did wish Zack would stop waggling his brows at him suggestively whenever the pretty girl wasn't looking. _She's not my girlfriend, Zack..._ Zack seemed to have taken a shine to Tifa, something Cloud hoped she wouldn't mistake for attraction. Zack would rather cut off his own tongue than be unfaithful to Aeris. And even if there were any possibility, Sephiroth took his position as Aeris' honorary big brother very seriously. He had given Zack a lethal smile and fingered Masamune on their first stop to Nibelheim when the waitress wouldn't stop batting her eyes at him or trying to emphasize her cleavage.

Cloud was content to watch and do his job. Given a few more days, he would be back in Midgar and from what Sephiroth had threatened, would be training his backside off to get ready for a promotion to 2nd Class.

"This bridge...doesn't look safe." Zack said lamely as the rickety contraption swayed in the yawning chasm between two peaks.

"It's the fastest way to the reactor and they said to get you here quickly." Tifa said, somewhat apologetically. They had left behind four of the six infantry that they had brought with them. The smaller their group, the less likely they were to attract another dragon. Though Sephiroth had dispatched the one that attacked them on the way up the mountain with nonchalant ease.

Zack had watched him, then sidled up to Cloud.

" _We're never gonna be that bad-ass, are we?"_ Cloud hadn't had an answer to that beyond shrugging.

Before Sephiroth, no one had thought that there could be someone so strong and powerful. He had changed the way wars were fought. His reputation was terrifying, awe inspiring and completely, one hundred percent well founded.

But Cloud honestly thought his attitude, the fact that the man didn't act like he was a god, was the more impressive thing. Even 3rd Class SOLDIER's like him tended to get cocky in the face of their recent improvements. They would then look like they were sucking lemons when they saw Sephiroth.

Cloud carefully followed his teachers and friends onto the bridge, hands carefully gripping the railings, trusting to the magnetic harness to keep his sword close at hand.

-vVv-

After a brief fiasco with the bridge literally breaking underneath their feet and needing to trek through the maze of caves on foot to reach the reactor, Cloud was starting to wonder if Tifa somehow knew that it was him underneath the helmet. It wasn't anything she had said, but he was suspicious nonetheless.

The natural Mako fountain was a sight to behold, and for some reason, it reminded Cloud of Rill.

Something natural and beautiful. No one person could claim they had made Rill into who she was now, but she was a force to be reckoned with.

The light was green, but not the poisonous dangerous kind that Cloud saw inside the SOLDIER injections. It was a lighter, softer color. Like new leaves. He squinted through the typical glow to try and see the forming crystal but wasn't able to identify it.

"What is it?" He asked Sephiroth quietly. "What kind of materia?"

"Can't tell for certain." The taller man replied just as softly, looking at it with a somber, contemplative air. "I don't think it's quite finished growing yet. But it doesn't have the right color for an ordinary magic or a summon. It isn't dark enough for an independent, so I would presume that it will become some manner of support materia once it's finished. It's almost there. Then again, considering the span of time that it takes for Mako energy to crystallize naturally, it will likely still take years before it's ready."

They arrived at the reactor a short time later and Cloud began to curse Zack black and blue when he saw a manic glint in his eye.

"All right, Spikey, you stay stand guard at the door with the troopers. K-thanks-see-ya!" And with that, he towed Sephiroth inside, leaving Cloud outdoors with the troopers and the girl from his hometown. _Damn you Zack._ If he didn't think it would only make matters worse, Cloud would definitely have told Rill and Aeris that he was being assaulted with embarrassment and watched the fun unfold as the girls shamed Zack mercilessly. Cloud held out an arm and barred Tifa from entering.

"There's a suspected leak inside. It isn't safe for civilians." he told her, deliberately keeping his voice low in hopes that she wouldn't recognize him. She huffed and looked irritated.

"I got you all here, I should get a look!"

"He's right, miss." One of the troopers interjected. "Mako radiation is dangerous for the unenhanced."

"Why is he out here then?' Tifa pointed at Cloud, her actual age showing through in the expression on her face. Something like a cross between a scowl and a pout.

"The general and the commander are both 1st Class, Miss Lockheart. The lieutenant here's just a 3rd. The more Mako you have in you, the less harmful side effects from radiation exposure you can expect."

Cloud wasn't expecting Tifa to be satisfied with this. Sure enough, she still seemed rather put out over the whole affair, but at least she wasn't trying for her way past them.

 _Yeah, usually you can expect a 1st to not get too messed up, even by direct exposure. I still won't be that surprised if Zack comes out with a tail or something._

-vVv-

Zack had been inside Mako reactors before, but not one that was this old. The generators were down, and only the emergency lights were on, casting everything in a reddish, honestly somewhat creepy glow. _If I see a vampire in the corner, I swear...!_

"Is there a reason that you wanted Cloud outside?" Sephiroth asked him as the ventured through the clean upper levels of the reactor.

Zack grinned.

"He's hiding from his old girlfriend." He had seen the way she had reacted when he asked about there being a special guy in her life. It was totally Cloud.

" _No one who's around anymore..."_ Her hastily cut off glance at the helmeted Cloud had told him everything. _Don't worry buddy! Your wingman's got your back! Feel free to name your first kid after me!_

"Are you incapable of not meddling with people's personal lives?" Sephiroth asked, crouching and examining a trail of something dark on the floor. _Dried blood. Ick._ Zack sobered slightly as he remained standing, scanning their surroundings.

"It's not meddling if it turns out to be helpful in the end! And I've only done it like...once!"

"If you are referring to me-"

"Yeah, I'm talking about you."

"-then you cannot accurately call your assistance helpful as it has yet to yield any results." Zack wanted to bang his head against the wall. Or Sephiroths. _How dense can you get!?_ He stubbornly ignored the laughter inside his head that sounded like Rill.

"You still haven't made up your mind!?"

"You mean to say this should have been done with all the same carelessness of choosing what to eat for lunch?" Sephiroth swung himself onto a ladder and began to descend into the deeper recesses of the reactor.

"No, of course not, you don't decide to love someone. It just sorta happens." Zack was very glad that Sephiroth was feeling chatty. He followed him down, recalling that in the briefing the bottom most vaults of the reactor were cited as the most likely area for their to be a leak or infestation. Lots of energy, tight, dark spaces, creepy atmosphere, it was perfect for monsters! _Especially vampires...Or maybe zombies._ The hiss and hum of the Mako tubes and the lights would have been much more eerie in silence than in conversation.

"I find it difficult to believe that affection can form so haphazardly."

"It's not haphazard, Seph. You're right that it isn't something that you just slap together on a Saturday afternoon, or something that forms from the leftover junk in the corner of your garage." _Comparison that he would get...? Think, think, think, think, think...Gah, I need Rill for this!_

Zack was still trying to scrape together some sort of comparison that Sephiroth wouldn't just poke full of holes and not understand at all. It wasn't going that well.

But he did have the older male's attention since instead of progressing onward, Sephiroth turned and waited for him to speak. _Well at least he wants to know if he's in love. Kinda missing the point that he has to be the one to realize it, but what the hey..._

It hit Zack like a laundry basket of unwashed socks falling out of a tree. (It was a weird mission and he had stayed in the showers for a week trying to get the smell off.)

"Ok...When you were growing up, if you weren't always being told how much bigger you had gotten, would you have noticed that you were getting taller?" There was a quizzical look on Sephiroth's face, but not the clueless one. _Progress!_ Zack forged on. "Or like when you're in the office and the day is going by, but you don't notice the sun moving until it's casting a shadow over your desk?"

"The movement is imperceptible unless we compare it to something else, preferably something stationary in order to make an accurate measurement." _I... **think** that means he gets it_. _Stupid fancy words..._

"It's kinda like that. You don't realize just how important someone is to you until it's thrown in your face." _Ok, time to push buttons. Maintain distance and be ready to dodge._ "What would you do if someone was hitting on Rill and she didn't like it?"

"She would be more than capable of handling herself-"

"Well, yeah, but I'm not asking what she'd do about it, what would you want to do to the guy?"

"Disembowel him. However, I have been told that that is only legal in the nomadic clans around Bone Village." Zack froze for an instant...then sighed.

"Ok, that got morbid really fast. My point is you can never really tell how much you care about someone until the world gets pulled out from under you and you're first thought isn't about how this might change your life, but how it might affect them."

Sephiroth actually looked thoughtful.

"So the chief indicator of being in love with someone-"

"Or if someone loves you!"

"-is if you prioritize their happiness above your own."

Sephiroth stood in a brown study for another minute or so...

"I will...ponder this later Zack. Though I believe it will be a great help. Thank you." Zack followed Sephiroth with slumped shoulders and a sigh.

 _At least for Cloud I can shove them into a room together and just let stuff happen. But with this guy, I have to convince him to convince himself that he's got it bad! And I can't even get Rill to help because she's involved!_

 _Goddess, love really is blind, clueless and insane!_

-vVv-

Zack would have taken the frustration of failed matchmaking all day long over the expression of Sephiroth's face as he stared at the plaque over the most heavily reinforced vault.

 _JENOVA_

Somehow, just looking at it gave him the heebiejeebies.

"Seph...?"

"It can't be..." Sephiroth breathed. "She's dead..."

"Who?"

"My mother...My mother's name was Jenova..." He turned his head and stared at the Makonoids, the heavily mutated people inside the pods. Zack's stomach roiled again at the memory of one of them opening it's eyes and staring at him _. They're alive...they're alive and stuck inside there..._ Getting a Mako shot itched and burned for a little while and it was heavily diluted. But from the looks of it, those...things had been submerged in pure Mako.

Zack's gaze followed the tubes that fed into the pipes, keeping the bluish liquid inside circulating. All of them led back into the sealed chamber that was labelled with the name of _Sephiroth's effing long dead mother!_

 _Something ain't right here. Like, really, really not right...!_

"Seph, breathe." He had never see the man look this sick. He had always thought it was impossible for the guy to get so much as a sniffle but he looked as though he was ready to throw up.

Zack grabbed his shoulder.

"Sephiroth, breathe!"

He took in a deep gasp of air, then another. He was starting to shake a little, hands balled into fists, his voice was a low growl of fury.

"Why are they...keeping her here...caged like some kind of animal?" _Danger! Danger!_

"Maybe she's got some kinda illness and they needed Mako to keep her alive! Chill!"

"Not once...not once in all my life...!" Zack was starting to get very worried. He turned, eyes glowing fiercely as he grabbed Zack's shoulders. _His eyes are glowing... His eyes should not be glowing. He's really mad!_

"They told me she was dead, they didn't once let me see her or even tell me she was alive!"

"I know, man! I get it! But you don't even know if this was named for your mom or if it is her! Just relax and think! Don't go doing something crazy without knowing everything!" Sephiroth's hands continued to get tighter and tighter.

"Listen to what I'm saying! I'm saying to not do anything crazy! Me!" _Burning Ifrit how does Rill do this!_ Sephiroth continued to felt as though he was a mouse being eyed by a hungry dragon!

Sephiroth's eyes flickered...and his grip slowly loosened.

"You...you're being rational."

"It's not going so well right now...!" Zack was not at all ashamed to admit he was squeaking. Just a little bit...

Sephiroth seemed to blink, then all of the tension began to ebb out of him. Zack could almost see his brain switch back on. He finally let go of Zack, but he was still tense.

"I'm...sorry about that. I don't know what came over me..."

"S'all cool. I'd probably have freaked out too." He felt as if he had just run a marathon only to wrestle a behemoth at the end. "Let's just finish up and get outta here, this place gives me the creeps..."

-vVv-

Zack stared at the Shinra manor with a frown.

 _He hasn't come out in two days..._ As soon as their party had arrived back in Nibelheim after dispatching several dragons and scaring off the rest, Sephiroth had vanished into the darkness of the basement laboratory and the attached library and hadn't come up for air, or food since.

 _This is getting freaky. What's he doing down there?_ Zack would have gone after him, but that might get him labelled as an insensitive person because he broke in on whatever soul searching Sephiroth was doing. _Decisions, decisions..._

To distract himself, Zack was trying to get Cloud and Tifa to get a face to face conversation without Cloud hiding in his helmet. It might have gone better if the blonde was still unaware of his intentions. _Maybe I should have been less obvious..._ Zack really hated his hindsight sometimes, it only ever came to him just after he put his foot in his mouth. Or in this case, stuck two awkward teenagers in approximately the same space and let the tension build.

He needed a plan. A solid, for certain, foolproof plan of action that would get something done!

He almost heard Rill's voice, dry as a bone, drift up from his memory.

 _If you want a foolproof plan, Zack, you can't be involved at all._

His bestie/sister was so mean sometimes...

Zack brightened.

Rill.

Rill would know how to get Sephiroth out of this funk of his. She always did! That and given that the guy was head over heels for her, there was no way this could go wrong!

Zack patted his pockets for his phone and grimaced as he recalled it's fate, met at the hands of dragon fire as they were leaving the reactor. _Bah, she's gonna skin me for losing another one..._ No matter how sturdy a model they made, no phone could ever quite hold up to Zack's lifestyle. Or more accurately, the many, many things that tried to kill him as a result of his lifestyle. Death by dragon spit was a new one though.

"Hey Spikey!" He hailed Cloud as he practiced under the hot mountain sun. It was unseasonably warm and dry given that it was approaching October. "Where's your phone? I need to make a call and mine went the way of the dragon." The shorter boy stopped and wiped his brow.

"What does this make, the third one this quarter?"

"Hey! It was the Turk who repurposed my phone as a bomb, I am innocent of that one!" Cloud sighed, going over to his harness and unclipping his phone and tossing it to him.

"If you get it shoved up your nose, drenched in wolf pee, or flushed down a sewer drain, I swear..."

"I'll guard it with my life, Cloudy. Chill out." Eyeing the way the younger SOLDIER was drenched in sweat, Zack frowned. "Aren't you roasting in the uniform?" Cloud shrugged uncomfortably.

"A bit."

"Dude, your head's gotta be melting inside that tin can..."

"The tint actually helps with the glare." Zack scrolled through Clouds relatively short list of contacts until he found what he was looking for. "I don't know what kind of reception you'll get up here..."

"Hey. If Rill can make it work, I can too!"

"You just keep telling yourself that."

 _Hmph. You know, I think Cloud still hasn't talked to his girlfriend..._

-vVv-

Cloud was intent on finishing with his forms and then heading home to spend time with his mother. Naturally, Zack had other plans.

"Zack, give me my helmet!"

Zack was playing hacky sack with Cloud's helmet and running around the outskirts of town grinning like an idiot. Everyone was going to see him as he was doing an excellent job of getting everyone's attention, and then they would, by extension, see Cloud. And that was exactly what Cloud wanted to avoid. It was bad enough that Sephiroth had gone all weird after seeing his mother's name plastered on the outside of the deepest reactor vault. Now Zack was going to make sure that everyone and their dog knew that he, Cloud Strife, was back in town.

 _I am going to kill you Zack. I'll say I'm sorry to Aeris, but somehow I think she'll understand..._

-vVv-

Inside Shinra Manor, things were far from peaceful as well. Only this was caused by stress and the struggle to hold onto some sense of self.

Sephiroth had been reading. Reading nonstop for two days. And each line in the research journals that he found was another thread of his previous identity snipped away. He felt as if he was fraying at the seams...

 _Professor Gast...Why didn't you ever tell me?_ The man had been reported dead when Sephiroth was five. But those early, almost peaceful years, were all the childhood he got to have. Afterward, he was placed in Hojo's care and that was when the teaching began.

 _Teaching...it wasn't teaching. It was training. Domesticating an animal..._

There were lists of tests, experiments that his mother had been a part of. He was listed as the only survivor. None of this had been updated for years...his current find was dated the year he was born, 1978.

 _Jenova...a long dead creature...an Ancient found in the Northern Crater._

The journals said that her health had been fragile after her almost miscarrying Sephiroth when he was about 24 weeks along. Thus, she had been put into the Mako Reactor in a bid to see if the energy wouldn't sustain her.

' _Given the properties that Mako has shown when used in marginal doses, Specimen J's remains will be placed in a tank of Mako containing a 23% saline solution with 0 air exposure. Monitor constantly for any sign of mutation. Her offspring, Specimen S-'_ His hands tightened on the old book as he devoured the words on the page, his rage mounting higher and higher. ' _Will be held under observation to see if the desired Ancient traits develop.'_ Desired traits? What did that mean? He was raised as a soldier. A war machine.

Sephiroth discarded his book in disgust.

 _I need something a little more recent. What was the purpose of my birth? Why did they bother to make me?_ If he was to be an engineered biological experiment, then the least he could do was find something about what he was meant to be. If he had been a success or a recycled failure...

Tearing through book after book, Sephiroth didn't notice the passing of time.

He met with several dead ends on the various effects of Mako on other living creatures. The precursor to his birth it seemed, to see what would happen to a developing fetus.

There came a rap at the door that shattered his concentration like a brick did thin glass.

He just looked at it in bewilderment as the door opened, revealing the simply clad form of-

"Mrs. Strife?" His voice was hoarse from lack of use and he was suddenly aware of his eyes feeling gritty and his limbs feeling strangely weak.

"We have all been patient for three days, General." She informed him, hands on her hips, the same blue eyes that she had passed onto her son flashing at him dangerously. "You have not emerged once to eat, rest or otherwise care for yourself and it is worrying your subordinates, one of whom is my only son. And I can see from your appearance that you have not even showered since your return from the reactor inspection. I draw the line." She marched forward, carefully took the book from his numb hands, marked the page and set it down on one of the stacks he had made in his reckless perusal. She then took him by the hands and began to walk him out of the library. Sephiroth could easily have stopped her, but there was something that wanted to be taken out of this place. Led out of this dark hole of confusion and growing despair.

"But I have to keep researching...I must know-"

"It can wait until tomorrow at the very least. Whatever you are after down here is best tackled with a well rested mind and a full stomach otherwise you'll drive yourself to distraction. No arguments General. You are going to come out, wash up, eat dinner and sleep. Then and only then will I let you come back here. Is that clear?"

It was about a day and a half later that Skye Strife permitted Sephiroth to return to the Shinra Manor basement. After plenty of rest, as hot a shower as her plumbing could manage and enough food to equate about six meals crammed into two, Sephiroth admitted that there must be something to motherhood that increased a person's common sense. He felt much more able to tackle this kind of problem. Less like he was on a toboggan run with no way of stopping.

-vVv-

It had been another two days and he had crunched through most of the library and come to a conclusion.

He was not human. According to these books he was genetically engineered from the frozen, preserved remains of an Ancient found in the Northern Crater. He was supposed to grow and be able to access the Ancient's fabled powers and lead Shinra to the Promised Land, a never ending fountain of pure Mako energy.

This had not happened. Whatever voice he was supposed to hear to guide him, he never responded to it. He was dubbed a failure and the Jenova Project was scrapped. When Gast had died and he had been transferred to Hojo's care, he had been set about to being molded into a death dealing monster for Shinra's gain.

But the things he had read...the things that Hojo had done with...Jenova's cells on non-living organisms... The Makonoids in the reactor were listed as an example, held submerged in the run-off of what was pumped into Jenova's containment chamber. And they had all once been people. But that wasn't the most terrifying part: No, all of those people put into those tanks had been dead. But very clearly, they had been alive when Sephiroth and Zack saw them. Eyes had been open, breathing, responding. They could see and think. It was meant as a miracle cure for death itself using the power of the Ancients...As soon as the minor issue of the mutations could be sorted out.

And what had happened for those creatures that were still alive?

The journals wrote them off as failures that mutated uncontrollably and were disposed of. There was no feasible way for pure Jenova cells to safely merge with a living being. _It takes ordinary creatures and turned them into monsters..._ Sephiroth swallowed bile, glad that he had followed Mrs Strife's advice, aka her orders, and not taken Masamune or his materia into the basement with him, otherwise he'd probably have done something he'd regret.

But the stories still ran around in his head without giving him a moments rest. And there was this niggling, mad desire to just give up. He had been discarded and recycled like trash. No one valued him. So why was it that he was the biggest asset Shinra had? If he was just a reject and a failure, why hadn't he simply been disposed of?

Was it because they thought they could control him? He'd like to see them try to force him into anything. The army couldn't stand against him, and he had yet to face a SOLDIER that could equal even Genesis or Angeal in combat, never mind himself. Any weapon they had he could destroy effortlessly. His body was proof against diseases that would kill an ordinary civilian due to the Mako in his system and the Ancient cells.

 _So why stay?_

Probably because war was all he knew. Some kind of conflict, something to face, fight and defeat.

 _There's a fight now..._

The Ancients were the champions of the Planet and Shinra was their enemy...the people who relied on its reactors for power, like the fleas on a mad lion's back.

 _Parasites. Vermin. Wipe them out._

Yes that was what one did with pests, but-

 _But what? They're killing the Planet without any regard for it's continued well being. That can't go on forever and the only thing they seemed to understand is violence. Just look at you? How old were you when Shinra sent you to fight their war? Thirteen?_ The seed of anger he always had in the back of his mind for Shinra forcing him to kill when he was barely more than a child seemed to grow and grow, bursting from a low smoldering into a bright flame that urged him to burn everything...

Sephiroth shook himself.

He was so rattled he would swear his morbid streak was starting to talk. Or he was just going off the deep end altogether.

 _Right. Voices in my head are bad. Time to get a second opinion and a sounding board._

He had only gotten to the point where mass homicide sounded a little too appealing twice before. Thankfully, he had had someone to talk him off of that ledge.

Sephiroth pulled out his phone, and tried to call his sanity: Rill.

" _The number you have called cannot be reached at this time."_ A moment's flash of panic was soon assuaged as he glanced up.

Shinra Manor was old and he was probably a few stories underground. It made sense that he couldn't reach Midgar down here.

He started climbing the tightly winding staircase back to the entrance in a back room of the manor, his phone clutched tightly in hand.

Frankly, just hearing Rill would do much to steady his nerves. But she would be able to work something out. And if she couldn't do it over the phone, it would only take a few days for him to be back with her and then they could tackle this problem together.

Sephiroth had just reached ground level when his phone started to ring.

Glancing at the caller ID, his brows rose.

 _Elmyra?_ It was the landline that the Gainsborough house used.

"Hello?"

" _Sephiroth! Thank the goddess you've finally answered."_ The woman sounded stressed.

"I've been underground for sometime, I'm sorry. I didn't think you would try to call me-"

" _I've been trying to reach Zack and Cloud, but I haven't managed. I'm losing my mind with worry."_ Sephiroth sighed.

"Yes...Zack got his phone blasted by a dragon and then manage to drop Cloud's down the town well." _Wait..._ "Worried, why are you worried?" If there was some security issue Veld would see to it, if not the Turks who sometimes frequented Elmyra's table.

" _It's Rill."_ Sephiroth stiffened, all of his self concern vanishing in the blink of an eye replaced by the overwhelming, almost all consuming urgency to see and verify that his friend was unharmed.

"What's wrong? Is she alright?" There came a brief silence that seemed to last forever. "Elmyra, is Rill alright, is she safe?" There came a very small answer.

" _I don't know, Sephiroth... She didn't say a word to anyone. Tseng says they haven't heard anything, as, as though she's vanished from off the face of the earth... Rill's gone."_


	31. What happened last week?

_One week earlier..._

Rufus didn't consider himself a saint, oh far from it. He knew that he probably wouldn't even pass muster as a good man. But he was human and he did have some flaws.

Growing fond of interesting or particularly useful people was one of them. And Rill Thomas, the Queen of SOLDIER who had rapidly risen to a prominent place in SHINRA in general, fell under both categories.

She was clever, creative, intuitive, insightful and logical. All of which made her a near perfect asset. The only problem was that she was also very hard headed when it came to some things such as being transferred out of the SOLDIER department or actually working with him. Nothing he could do, say or imply could get her to cooperate. She saw through every deception and threw his attempts to use social pressure back in his face.

Rufus had been annoyed at her determination to be less than helpful, but he had accepted it nonetheless. She was too critical a piece of the company right where she was to make a big fuss about it, however much her support would have eased his way.

Over the years she was a figure in his life, he started getting begrudgingly fond of her.

For one thing, she handled Dark Nation easily, and his fondness for his pet was bleeding through to her. Then there were things like the fact that she always had painkillers on hand for the migraines that came with his job, or that she was somehow capable of sending Scarlet running with a few calm, simple words that didn't even allude to how much weight she had in the company. She curbed the everyday madness of the place to a manageable level and made it enjoyable to witness instead of frustrating and costly.

Rufus listened to his father's drunken slurs about the girl turned woman and how popular she was getting.

The board saw her in a very positive light and there were few people in the lower ranks who didn't hold her in high esteem for what she did and how she went about it. There was some talk of a new set of standards being drafted using Rill as an example. These standards would apply chiefly to management and ownership and would be enforced, or people would be replaced with those who would follow those practices.

It was a silly rumor. Nothing more. A rumor that Rill would be made President of SHINRA Electric, practically a joke because everyone knew she would never leave her current position. As if Sephiroth would stand for it!

But the paranoia of a guilty conscience could not be stopped and when that fear was combined with the mind-numbing effects of alcohol...

Rufus attention returned to the conversation at hand. _Even this idiot can't have actually said that, can he?_

"I beg your pardon?" He asked, a little too sharply.

"It hasth to happen. That woman hasth to be removed from my company." Gunther Shinra was slurring, but his eyes were clear and calculating.

"Father, the setbacks that would cause-"

"It'll happen quietly. There's a new model of airplane that will be takung-taking a maiden voyage with passengers. She'll go to represent the company and the plane will just malfunction over the ocean." It would certainly solve the problem, but would also waste the lives of at least fifteen other people!

But his father wouldn't care about that.

"Waste the design and funds put into a functional aircraft to remove one woman?" Reminding him about the price tag ought to kill that plan, but it wouldn't solve the problem in the long run. Rufus asked, masking his racing thoughts as he fought fiercely to keep his expression from going livid in his rage. He liked that woman, and this fat oaf was planning on killing her on a whim?! If there was a time to do that, it would have to have taken place before she won over so many people. His father would gut Shinra if he did this, drive away the reliable, upright people and leave only dregs behind! This was Rufus's company he was destroying!

President Shinra looked thoughtful even as he took another large swallow from his glass.

"True...it is just one woman." He then nodded. "Alright, Rufus. You do it. Get rid of her. If she getsh the company, it'll be you she takes it from. Itsth your resthponshibility. Don't care how, just don't make it cost too much and make it permanent. I'll make it worth your while." This was a test. Rufus could tell that. But this time, the prospect of passing made his blood run cold.

-vVv-

Rufus pondered the dilemma in his office the next day.

His father had a valid point. At the rate Rill was gaining popularity, she would be the one put in charge of everything. And if that happened, Rufus had no chance of manipulating her as he did his father.

Dark Nation sensed that he was disturbed and came over, laying his head on Rufus' leg and whining softly. Rufus absently scratched his ears as he mulled the problem over.

He could obey his father and get richly rewarded for it, or he could disobey and not orchestrate the needless death of a good woman, one who had become something akin to a friend.

He had never really had friends before. Just people who were useful, who he took care of in exchange for them not being boring or redundant.

"Rill always does like causing me trouble, however much she also enjoys resolving problems." He remarked to Dark Nation. The guardhound's ears perked, as they always did in reference to his favorite human female and his tail started to wag like an eager puppy. Rufus wondered at times who Dark Nation would listen to if it came to a direct confrontation. He adored Rill so much and seemed so aware of whenever she was spoken of that he honestly didn't know.

"What do you think?" He asked his faithful companion. "What is the best way to handle this? One the one hand, I lose my father's active support and that sets me back years in my plan. On the other, I lose a friend, a useful one to be sure, but still just a friend." Dark Nation cocked his head quizzically.

Rufus had a bad habit of talking to his pet guardhound to resolve issues like this. It made him feel better to voice his problems to someone who for one, would never betray him, and for another, didn't have the ability do so.

But the question Dark Nation had unintentionally presented did merit thought.

Really? Was a friend all that he risked losing?

Tseng came in bearing some papers.

"We've gotten word from the Nibelheim group that they've arrived. The dragons have spread out and started to come down the mountain into the valley."

"What's the recommendation?" Rufus asked. They didn't have many customers in Nibelheim, but rural areas like that had a habit of becoming big news if they were neglected. Better to not have any publicity than to have bad publicity.

"The SOLDIER will go to the reactor with the guide and check on it while exterminating the monsters they find. Depending on the resistance they encounter, and how they assess the threat level, we'll take action. Either evacuating the local villages, or sending more troops. It depends on how the General assesses the situation." Rufus nodded shortly, satisfied with this course.

Sephiroth was in charge of the expedition, and no matter what, he would make a sound judgement about how any combat situation was to be handled or avoided. That is, if the dragons didn't just turn tail and run at his mere presence. Rufus had little close combat experience and he knew it, so he left the details to the specialists.

Tseng left after delivering the report, but it did bring to mind two pertinent facts.

If Rill died, it didn't matter how or when, the Turks would hunt down the perpetrator and take vengeance. They protected their own with a blank face and no mercy, and Rill was definitely one of their own, her position in SOLDIER aside.

He stood losing the best of them as a best case scenario if he followed his father's instructions and dying himself in the worst. And that was without considering what Sephiroth would do.

Rufus felt a cold shiver crawl down his spine at the thought.

Sephiroth was usually civil and polite, but Rufus had seen the recordings of his time on the frontlines during the Wutian War. The Black Demon was not someone he wanted to meet face to face, ever.

 _Nothing to be done except tell her. Not only do I not want to kill her, I can't risk it in any case. I don't want her dead._

The only thing left was to get her to safety. As far away from his father as possible.

He sent Rill a brief message, requesting to see her about some matter that he pulled out of the reports he had been sent via email.

But when she didn't respond in a timely manner, an alarm went off in the back of his head.

Rufus rose from his desk, calling Dark Nation to heel.

"Find Rill." He ordered him shortly. After the scare with AVALANCHE, he had trained Dark Nation to track the supremely undervalued secretary without any refreshing reminder of her scent. The hound was more than willing to track his favorite person, and so he charged off towards her office.

It was something Rufus had emphasized when the training first began. If Rill wasn't in her office, then all of her trails, no matter how old, would eventually pass through there.

Dark Nation bounded into her office, then emerged again just as swiftly, nose to the ground and a faint growl resonating through him.

Rufus instantly regretted not bringing his shotgun. _Of all the times for Rill to go and get herself into trouble again_...Heads were going to roll when Sephiroth came back.

"Find." He commanded shortly. Dark Nation had the scent and he went after it at a steady trot, fur bristling aggressively at whatever he smelt.

-vVv-

Rufus felt as though he should be bristling too when the hound led him to the labs. Hojo's workspace.

Despite the scientist's value to the company, Rufus had acquired a distaste for the man recently. His only response to AVALANCHE Raven troops was a disgusted analysis of where they had gone wrong. Not one word about how much it cost them to kill them in men or how many civilian casualties the lunatics had caused.

Dark Nation was growling more audibly now, his barbed tail was lashing angrily as he came to a door that did not open and he paced impatiently as he waited for Rufus to open it with his master key. Well, not his, but his father's. He had Tseng make a copy whenever his father got a new one.

The labs were brightly lit, contrary to what Rufus felt should be a dark, creepy and ominous place. But he still felt a reflexive cringe coming on at the sight of the sterile, lifeless room. Dark Nation wasted no time in heading off towards a back section of the lab, his posture telling Rufus that the hound was close to his quarry.

Rill was staring at a screen, white knuckled and her eyes blazing with emotion. She didn't even seem to notice Rufus or the guardhound who was circling around her, glaring at something he couldn't see.

"Fancy seeing you here, Rill." Rufus said in a conversational tone, testing the waters to see how bad the situation was.

"Drop the act, Rufus. When did he give the order?" Her blunt usual of his name made Rufus pause and examine Rill. And he saw for the first time that she was afraid about something. The fearless woman was still present in her iron control of her faculties and in her level, if cutting tone. But Rill was afraid...but she knew. _Of course she knows. She always does_. Rufus gave serious consideration once again to Reno's theory that Rill was actually psychic.

"A few days ago."

"This goes back much longer than just a few days." She said gesturing at the screen before shutting it off with a carefully controlled flick of her hand.

This...was apparently different. Some scheme that Rufus hadn't known about.

 _Trust Rill to turn it up._

"Then I believe you mean something different than I do." If there was anything that Rill needed to know about, it was this. She was, after all, not quite omniscient and this was vital...but he did want to know what could possibly make Rill afraid, not even Sephiroth at his worst had done more than shake her for a few days,

"You first."

"My father has grown paranoid and assigned me to remove you." He said bluntly and flatly. "You need to leave Shinra without a trace, disappear for awhile until I can handle him and it's safe to return." She shook her head, a bitter smile curving her lips.

"Oh, is that all?" She jerked a thumb at the screen behind her. "Hojo apparently believes the rumors about Sephiroth having feelings for me."

They were not merely rumors if Rufus was any judge, but anyway...

"These are samples taken from me and records of my blood type, ancestry, routines, preferred foods, health history and more. They go back for months."

"And the alarming thing is?" Hojo was a scientist, he had nothing else to his name except for his work and its methods. This kind of in depth analysis of people was the norm for him, however unsettling it might be. Rill gave the heir a flat look.

"When I say routines, Rufus, I mean all of them, including my menstrual cycle and a calculation of when I would be the most fertile. He's also got a list of potential aphrodisiacs and fertility enhancers in case it doesn't happen fast enough for his liking." Rufus was at a loss for words. He just stared at the woman blankly.

It took a few seconds for Rufus to catch up and acknowledge what Rill had just said.

 _Rumors about a relationship between Rill and Sephiroth_.

It clicked into place.

Hojo was waiting for Rill to become pregnant with Sephiroth's child.

The implications of that were not good on any level for the infant, or for Rill.

"What will you do?" He knew if he had found that the scientist was prying into his background and eyeing his offspring with such calculation, he would probably shoot the man or at least station him far away. Maybe the South Pole at a base that was just a few broken generators away from being certain death. The idea of Hojo being near children period instilled much the same reaction. It just didn't seem like a safe, sane or healthy idea.

"Between this and your father, the best course would be to leave." She grimaced, shaking slightly. "Actually, it would be better to just disappear."

There was something else. Something she wasn't telling him. The threat of death wouldn't make Rill afraid and Hojo's analyzing her future children was just making her angry. There was something else going on that Rill didn't want to say, even to him right now.

"I concur." Rufus said, offering her a hand with a slightly bow. "Shall we conduct this conversation elsewhere? As fitting as the deathlike atmosphere is, I for one don't want to see you die for any reason and we have some plans to make if people aren't going to be chasing after you."

-vVv-

Rill's computer was a bit of an enigma for many. Rufus was unsurprised to see that she had troubleshooting tips for dealing with madness, including folders for some specific people (Zack and Reno) but what he hadn't anticipated were the many creative ways to smuggle someone out of the country, both voluntary and otherwise. There was what looked at first glance like a diagrammed plan to abduct someone but she went into another folder before he could get a closer look. She already had several methods drawn out of how she could go on the run, all of them creative and plausible from their description. Rufus was somewhat startled to see these and exasperated at the fact that there were several signed annotations or edits from her closer friends in the Turks.

Rill must have noticed the expression on his face. "You try dealing with everything that goes on here every day and not daydreaming sometimes."

Suddenly, it all made much more sense as to how Rill was always so calm. If someone did get on her nerves, she had dozens of plans to get rid of them.

They laid the plans for her escape quickly. Rill was already scheduled to go and speak to the mayor of Junon as an official company representative. Along the way, Rufus knew that AVALANCHE would attack the convoy. Simply slipping out the suggestion to bomb the road instead of sending troops would be enough. 'Rill' would be riding by herself in a car stationed between her escorts. All that had to happen was that empty car had to be thoroughly destroyed, enough so that the corpse inside couldn't be recognized as not being Rill. The corpse might be a sticky point, as it had to be a genuine human body, but the Turks had ways of finding those. Rill wanted all traces of her history to be erased as well as the information Hojo had. It seemed a reasonable enough request that Rufus didn't press the point. When they brought the request to the Turks, Veld and Tseng's faces went stone hard for a few seconds.

"We'll take care of it." Tseng stated. Not a promise, not an 'I'll try'. This was fact and it would happen. It was a tendency Rufus appreciated about the part Wutian. When he committed to something, it got done.

Rill would be smuggled out of the city a day before this plan was to transpire to a Turk hideout in the north. The plan called for her to wait there until things in Midgar were safe for her again. Rufus talked it out with his conspirators and together they worked out as many of the flaws as they could. The head of the Turks had given his support to the cause as soon as Rill said it was necessary and he spoke for his entire department as he did so.

It would be as covert as possible. The fewer people knew it was actually a deception, the better. However painful it might be, no one could be certain where she was, or if she was alive.

The plan was set into motion and Rill left Midgar. A power outage was set off by power being diverted from the labs to a weapons test and Tseng entered the labs and wiped all information about Rill that he could get his hands on.

It all went smoothly. A corpse was procured, disguised and puppeted into the car with a Manipulate Materia and sent on its way for the scheduled trip to Junon.

Unfortunately, the deception didn't last long.

-vVv-

"It was a good plan, son, but it seems the woman was a step ahead of us." President Shinra reported, frowning. "The body was checked, it isn't her." Rufus masked his irritation as best he could. How could the body possible have been identified? It was charcoal! After the bomb, the raiders had even torched the area with Dark Fire materia. There wasn't anything left that they could plausibly use for a DNA test. That had been the whole point of this plan, to let her vanish without a trace into the anonymity of death until she could be brought back safely.

"The science department must have progressed remarkably in their methods if they could make anything out of what was left of the body." Rufus kept his tone bored and uninterested.

"Normally, it wouldn't be possible. However there are some things that cannot be faked in her actual DNA string."

Rufus allowed a tinge of mild curiosity to enter his expression.

"Was there some kind of mutation that you could trace?" His father's expression darkened with frustration.

"She was an Ancient all along."

"What?!"

Rufus didn't need to feign the disbelief on his face as he heard this. There wasn't anything in Rill's behavior that indicated she wasn't anything but a normal person...expect for her uncanny perception...and the legends did say that Ancients could listen to the voice of the Planet to learn things that others couldn't. It was one thing that made them so difficult to track down.

 _In hindsight, it really isn't that surprising_. Didn't Rill call the Ancient girl family? All records indicated that she was related only to Elmyra, not Aeris. But Veld had filed those records himself when Rill joined their family almost ten years ago.

Which meant the Turks had known her secret all along and had never said a word about it.

Rufus glanced at Tseng's expression and saw that he had schooled his features into a calm mask that betrayed nothing.

If his father found that out, he'd probably find some way to dismiss all who had known and arrange for their deaths. She had been sitting on a secret of this magnitude in the face of who knows how much stress for three years and save one instance of illness, had never been anything less than a model of efficiency and capability for the company that might very well end her free life if she was discovered.

Rufus's respect for Rill, her discipline and her courage, grew exponentially.

"Yes. Even with the data loss from yesterday's power outage, Professor Hojo had extra copies of the information. He'd been compiling this data for over a year, it would have been a terrible loss if he didn't have spares..."

 _Odin...!_

No wonder it hadn't taken that long for the game to be up. Rufus quickly made a mental note to train Dark Nation to develop a passionate dislike for anyone in a lab coat. He was intelligent enough to tell the difference between that and his preferred white coats...

"How did he find out? I can't imagine she'd have made it easy to discover."

"After Hojo concluded Sephiroth might want her, he started taking steps to gather the information he needed to ensure she survived carrying a fetus containing high levels of Mako."

That was a nice way of phrasing Hojo's desire to use Rill as a breeder. Rufus had copied all the information he could find to look through it and was...disturbed at the depth of study Hojo had put into the woman.

"He didn't tell me about this until after this incident with AVALANCHE. Otherwise I'd never have given the order..."

That didn't sound like his father. That almost sounded remorseful.

"Still, she was with us for three years and she never once came forward." President Shinra paced, eyes bright with greed. "If she had, she could have simply led us straight to the Promised Land and been rewarded for it."

 _Ah, yes_. That was more like it. Rill being an Ancient meant little to him for the sake of continuing the research of the SOLDIER program. It took far too long to have children grow to be of any use. No, his immediate concern was with the legendary Promised Land, an endless supply of abundant Mako energy for him to seize and give out in bits and pieces for as much money as he could squeeze from the rest of the world.

Rufus could feel his disdain for his sire growing with each passing moment he listened to his angry ranting at the lost opportunity. Rill was a person. She lived, breathed, felt and thought just as surely as he himself did. She brought entertainment and humor with her keen vision and mulish determination. She brought camaraderie and solace in the midst of chaos.

She's been kind to Dark Nation, in spite of his frightening appearance. She had been intelligent enough to match wits with him, first in behalf of another and then for herself. And brave enough to do so time and time again despite the influence he wielded. Regardless of how she had viewed him, he could sincerely say that he liked her.

And while he would protect those people who were useful, he would actively eliminate any threats to someone he actually liked.

Rufus would take vindictive pleasure in slowly, excruciatingly taking his father's life's work away without him noticing. He was not the monster this man was, and that would show through clearly once he had this company in hand.

"Rufus, I want parties out searching for her. Quietly. We can let people believe she died in the AVALANCHE attack, but I want that Ancient." Rufus inclined his head, letting only a touch of sarcasm enter his voice.

"She'll be safe and sound, don't worry, father."

It had never showed through so prominently how he had changed than right now. His father was looking to capture a living person as if she were a rare animal. Rufus was planning on how to pass the message to Rill that their plans needed to change if she wasn't going to be captured again. If it came down to it, he'd free her openly. But that would be a last resort and only a last resort.

-vVv-

Rufus stared blankly at Judo, who had just come back and reported privately that Rill was no longer in the hideout they had left her at. To Rufus' shock, the Turks reported that there was no sign of forced entry or any indication of violence. The best they could tell, Rill had simply left of her own accord. There was also a massive winter storm blanketing the entire half of the northern continent, reducing air and ground visibility to almost zero. Any tracks she had left when she fled had long since been erased.

Now not only had his father lost his Ancient, but Rufus had no idea where in the world his friend could be. A clever, resourceful woman like Rill could do a lot, but she was also very much city raised and the monsters that inhabited those frigid northern areas were not to be trifled with. She was by herself, no backup, no training, minimal equipment.

 _What is she thinking?!_

He dismissed Judo and reached for his whiskey in the drawer of his desk in the false back.

An unmarked letter fell out as he removed the bottle.

Rufus stared...then he picked it up and opened the letter.

 _'Rufus_

 _I imagine that by the time you find this, the news will have reached you about what I am._

 _I don't think I need to explain to you why I kept it a secret. Others might be a different story.'_

No, he could understand exactly why she hadn't trusted anyone with this knowledge. Especially not him.

 _'Our plan may work, and it may not. My people and ordinary humans have almost no physical differences and very few mental ones as well, but I don't know how much Hojo has managed to discover from having Aeris so close by, or how much he managed to learn from her mother when he had her. Regardless, I have the feeling that I will need to go on the run instead of simply being undercover. I have many friends among the Turks, but there are also some that I know would turn me in. Not in the combat division. Gary Moore and Derek Schmidt are their cover names, code names Blue and Snake._

 _I apologize in advance for the inevitable crash that will come when various people hear about the accident.'_ Rufus abruptly stopped reading as growing horror broke over him as he realized one person to him this statement applied to.

 _Sephiroth_.

Oh Goddess, what would Sephiroth do when he heard that she was dead?

The mental image his calculating mind helpfully conjured was an image of blood, darkness and fire. Quite a bit of fire. And certain people's heads on improvised pikes made of door frames.

 _'There's a war coming Rufus. Not one that your army can win. Hojo has been using the same being that wiped out the Cetra race to stabilize Mako enhancements. The Calamity is waking and she will soon use the army he's been building for her to her fullest advantage. The world will tear itself apart if she has her way. She's already begun with the Genesis clones. I'm going to be unfair and perhaps a little impractical now;_

 _Don't tell anyone. If this gets out people are going to be afraid and panic._

 _There will be riots, attacks on SOLDIER, civilians dying in the attempt, and all the while, people will get afraid. Fear is the mind killer and it's the way she destroyed my race. Don't let anyone know about this. I need time and the chance to grow away from the drained area around Midgar. I can't tell you where because I don't really know myself. Talk to Aeris if you need to know more. I'll survive. Just reduce the number of people that Hojo can get his hands on, keep SOLDIER as small as you can._

 _Burn this.'_

Rufus considered the contents of the letter...then took a lighter and set the paper ablaze over a previously unused ashtray.

He sat and meditated quietly at his desk as the ashes of Rill's parting message cooled and her warning sank into his mind. He came many conclusions and planned as many of his next steps as he could.

She was warning him about a potential global crisis. There must have been thousands of people who underwent the SOLDIER treatment. Only about three thousand of them had passed must to for the standing army and received training, but with what Rufus was starting to suspect about Hojo, those rejects might not have simply had the extra Mako neutralized and sent away.

He could disregard her words, live his life safely, and let the world pay the price, or he could listen, and try, and maybe fail and die horribly.

And she had so drastically changed him that the choice was crystal clear and he could not bring himself to choose the other road.

"Damn you, troublesome woman." Rufus said, taking a shot straight from the bottle.

 _'I don't want to be a good man. But the only alternative you've left me is being a monster.'_ He saluted the air ruefully. _'Cheers to you, Rill. You win. You've made the son of a monster into a man.'_


	32. Shatter?

He was in that place between sleep and wakefulness where nothing mattered except eliminating everything in his way. That numb place was better than thinking. Than remembering. If he had somewhere to be, no one dared tell him.

Sephiroth cut through another faceless simulation, a special program of the SIM room that was designed to never be possible to defeat the same way twice, drawing on the skill sets of everyone on record to create a unique fighting style every time. This one had lasted less than five minutes, just like all the rest. He spoke in a voice so cold he barely recognized it as his own.

"Increase challenge level."

This time the simulation that appeared wasn't faceless, but Zack, the familiar Buster Sword held at the ready. Sephiroth spotted a flaw in his guard and attacked before abruptly cutting himself off from disemboweling one of his few remaining friends.

"Zack, what are you doing?" He said, Masamune's tip lowering.

"You need someone to fight, and 'Geal and Genesis aren't here."

"You've come a long way Zack, but you aren't on that level yet."

Zack gestured impatiently, moving the weight slab of forged and reformed metal easily. "Yeah, but anyone else would get pancaked by you in fifteen seconds."

That was true. Zack was easily the strongest SOLDIER left in the program after himself, and if there was one thing Zack was especially good at, it was enduring a long battle. He had to have that kind of staying power in order to use Angeal's massive old weapon effectively. Sephiroth desperately needed a long, exhausting battle.

But the disruption to his mindlessly killing simulations seemed to leech away all of his energy and desire to fight leaving only hollow mourning in its place.

Rill was gone.

Elmyra's worried phone call had made him pull out of Nibelheim and race back to Midgar as swiftly as he could, Zack and Cloud only a few steps behind him. But he was informed upon arrival that Rill had been a casualty in an AVALANCHE attack en route to Junon.

Receiving that distressing news had put him in a very bad place mentally.

Sephiroth sheathed Masamune and pulled out his phone to cancel the simulation of the Mako Cannon, or what was left of it, and noted that it had been two days since he had gotten the news.

"What's happening as far as funeral arrangements?" The thought hurt. Everything hurt, actually. Travelling on little food and no rest, then fighting nonstop for two days was taxing on anyone's body, Mako or not.

"Company got a bigwig thing put together for her that no one really wants to go to. The real thing's down below the Plate." Not surprising that. Rill was practically family to every member of the Sector 5 slums and her ability and position had made her a darling figure anywhere in the Undercity.

"When?"

"The things been going on for a couple days actually." Zack admitted. "Right from when people heard there was an attack, there was a memorial for the ones that didn't make it. Then when they heard about Rill, they all just went to the church."

Yes, the church. The one place in the entire Midgar area that defied the environmental damage, flourishing under the constant care of Aeris and Ri-

Just Aeris, now.

"Come on, Seph. Mom wants to see you." Sephiroth nodded blankly before he paused.

"Since when do you refer to Elmyra like that?"

Zack's expression didn't change.

"Since I got a reminder about how easily things can change."

Fair enough. Sephiroth acknowledged it. He had already given Zack a talking to about Aeris since he had been introduced to the family first and was technically the 'man of the house'. The term had been awkward and ungainly at first, when Elmyra applied it to him. But he had it now and he relished it and loved the implication that he was part of their family for his own sake and not because he was friends with Rill.

"Then let's go." He didn't know how comforting the place would be with the one face he treasured the most missing, but it was home. The only home he still had.

-vVv-

Aeris knelt in prayer in the center of the grove of trees Sephiroth had imported for Rill with Zack's help.

' _She isn't dead._ ' She knew that, but...

She wanted to know where Rill was. She could feel inside her heart that she was alive and well, but putting that feeling into words wasn't something she felt up to doing. She had felt Rill's worry and fear jump to a much higher level and not even out again as was normal. Her fearless cousin had gotten scared and scared badly by something.

She felt her plotting, and had inquired about it delicately.

 _'They found out_.' Her words brought a childlike surge of old terror to Aeris as she remembered tall white rooms and men with detached expressions and her mother trying in vain to comfort her.

SHINRA knew Rill was a Cetra. Aeris was secluded in the slums and unable to influence many people. But Rill had been in the company for years, gaining status and influence. The fear of vengeance was a powerful thing and everyone knew that the majority of the army would side with her if she called for their aid in destroying the corporation that had hunted their kind down to near extinction. But even with all of that...

' _What will you do?'_

' _Run. As soon as I can.'_

Aeris had thought this would mean she would run in about a week once she had time to formulate a plan.

 _'How long?'_

 _'I leave tomorrow. I have a plan to fake my death so I hopefully won't be followed...as many people as possible will have to believe it.'_

Which meant that many of her friends would have to believe that she was dead for a while. Including Sephiroth.

Aeris bowed her head in continued pleas to the Planet to let her see where her cousin was, if she was safe, well and when she could be brought to safety

 _'She is where she needs to be.'_ The reply came once again, but gave no further detail.

Aeris pressed still further.

 _'She needs to be here, with all of us.'_ She had felt an uneasy murmuring from the Planet about a week earlier, in regards to Sephiroth and that unnerved her. Sephiroth had frightened her a little at first and no matter how close she was to him now, Aeris knew Rill would always be better at calming the General's nerves. And it didn't have anything to do with their natural empathic gifts as Children of the Planet.

 _'The sage must grow.'_ The term puzzled her until it came to her from the White Materia.

A sage was a high ranked magic user from the old Cetra clan. They were balanced in proficiency between Black and White magic, and often compounded the two forces to accomplish legendary feats of magic that marked defining moments in the world's history. They were people of the natural world, learning from what they saw in nature and growing in difficult circumstances and action as much as they did through meditation and study.

She had often seen this term connected to Rill, though the meaning had always eluded her.

She felt Sephiroth coming, felt his heavy, grieving heart and felt her own break for him and his pain. She spoke aloud in frustration, voice piercing the silent air of the chapel.

"What will you have me tell him then?" Sephiroth had loved Rill for much longer than he realized and a lot of his growth, change and stability had come from her presence. He was probably the most devastated at her apparent death. Especially since he had never gotten the chance to voice his feelings. And grief like the kind he would be experiencing could very easily be the breaking point. He had already lost his two best friends and now the woman he loved too?

And if he broke-

Aeris felt a cold shudder of terror surge from the Planet.

Yes, it was imperative that Sephiroth stay sane, but she had to give him something to hang onto. She couldn't just let him go on believing Rill was dead.

' _You will tell him.'_

The statement was blunt and direct. Tell Sephiroth she wasn't dead.

"He'll want to know where she is so he can bring her back."

' _She must be unseen. The Calamity has allies in many places, and she has done much to frustrate her designs already. If the Calamity finds her, the sage will die before her time and take his human soul with her.'_

Aeris let her hands fall into her lap as she sighed, unhappy but understanding.

The Planet had whispered that Sephiroth had discovered he had some part of the Calamity in his blood and it had horrified him. That had been what almost broke him not a week ago. The human part was what kept him sane, made it so he was still himself instead of simply the Calamity's enthralled slave. And his human soul wholly belonged to Rill. He was still too numb right now, but once the shock wore off and he turned to anger, the Cetra's ancient enemy would seize her chance.

That could be put off if Rill were here, but Aeris got a repeated affirmation that Rill could not be in the city right now. No one could know where she was.

In her cousin's absence, grounding Sephiroth fell to her. But how did she comfort him without pushing him further? How did she tell him without simply sending him off chasing after her?

The purple blossoms were falling around Aeris. She caught one in her hand, sensing through it that the trees were already fading as a result of Rill's absence.

She exhaled, beckoning more life to come in and fill the gap.

"Aeris." She heard Sephiroth call and rose from where she had been kneeling, turning towards him.

He looked awful.

Haggard shadows marred his pale complexion and dulled his normally clear green eyes. There was a conspicuous lack of his usual composure, and part of him seemed to be teetering on the complete edge of despair.

He looked like half a man. Not the friend, the brother that he had come to be since Rill inadvertently brought him in the family. Aeris' heart hurt for him. He didn't have the same surety that she did. The intimate certainty that her sister Cetra was still alive.

Come what may, she had to tell him. Rill would just have to learn very quickly how to avoid capture from unfriendlies or overly zealous friendlies. This was too critical.

The girl strode forward and embraced the tall man. He returned it carefully, as he always did, keenly aware of his own strength and the differences between them. But the wall was there. He didn't lean into her mind and body like he did those infrequent moments with Rill. And that was ok.

Because she would put the life back into the man, regardless of what Rill wanted. She would not let her live without the chance of love.

Because of Rill's sacrifice, Aeris had gotten the chance to know Zack, and he meant the world to her. She hadn't known it was possible to love someone so deeply and it was something she wouldn't have had the chance to experience if Rill hadn't done as she had.

Aeris pulled back and look straight into the brilliant green eyes of the man she knew would love her cousin until his dying day.

She still didn't know what to say. So she just said what was in her heart.

"She's not dead, Sephiroth. I don't know where she is, and I can't promise she isn't in danger. But I can promise you with complete surety, she is not dead."

-vVv-

The words made something kick start Sephiroth's heart, new fervor and energy filling his tired body with purpose. And the tone was familiar as well. The same tone Rill would use when she was stating something that was simple, pure truth.

"She's alive."

"I am certain."

He exhaled slowly, feeling tension ebb from his body as he dispelled the falsehood from his mind. If Aeris was this sure, he would believe the same. It was better than despairing.

"Where is she?"

The two girls were uncannily similar in that respect. In this calm awareness of everything around them and each other.

Aeris's face flashed with worry again.

"I don't know. I'm sorry Sephiroth. I'd tell you if I knew. But all I can be certain of is that she's alive, far away and getting further by the hour."

 _Why?_

Why was she leaving? Why was she running? Why was she leaving him when he needed her?

"Sephiroth. Breathe." Aeris's voice cut through his whirling thoughts just as Rill's always had but without the same comfort.

Sephiroth forced his lungs to contract and expand, counting his breaths carefully until he felt marginally calmer.

"Do you know why she left?"

"Something frightened her. Something we both fear…" Aeris trembled slightly, looking young pale and scared. A child instead of the young woman he knew. "I...the wrong people found out we are actually blood related. Mom adopted me after she found me beside my mother's body in the train station… Rill found me about a year later."

The fear on her face and in her voice made Sephiroth focus out of his despair and confusion slightly.

Why Rill never took her family out of the slums despite being more than financially able to do so.

Why the family was so casually familiar with the Turks.

Why the Turks were always stationed nearby.

Why whenever the science department was brought up, Rill's face went unnaturally smooth and controlled. Like she had been before they had grown so close.

"What is it?" So he could go kill it, preferably. Aeris was family. And whatever was threatening her was keeping Rill away from him, thus, the logical course of action to eliminate the threat as swiftly as possible.

Aeris looked up at him, sad and regretful.

"Rill and I are not human, Sephiroth. When Mom found me, my mother had died escaping from the Shinra labs with me."

After listening to Aeris's story, Sephiroth didn't know what to feel.

On the one hand, his own childhood had been a hellish nightmare at the hands of the Shinra scientists, one he was wholeheartedly grateful his family had escaped. On the other, why hadn't Rill told him, said something to him. He would have protected her!

He had to find her.

He had too much to say to her for her to simply be gone.

He wanted to hear her voice again, just to be able to know that contact with her wasn't further away than the touch of a button.

 _I will find you, Nerilka._

But he had nowhere to start, that was the issue.

 _Rill…_

-vVv-

For the first time in almost two weeks, Sephiroth reluctantly entered his office. He found, to his surprise, that Cloud was there sorting the paperwork in his stead.

"How long have you been here?" he asked the young man. Cloud shrugged, shadows visible under his eyes.

"Couple days." Cloud had left the mourning in the slums after a day. Doubtless he had come here to find something to keep himself occupied.

"Go get some rest Cloud." Sephiroth exhaled. "I'll finish the rest." He spotted the protest before it could form. "That was an order." Cloud's shoulders relaxed and he threw a salute, perfectly formed and placed in spite of his weariness and reluctance. Sephiroth felt a flicker of amusement.

"The order is from Elmyra, not me." Cloud managed a brief smile before exiting the room and leaving Sephiroth to his solitude and drudgery work.

The offices were too silent, the door between his workspace and Rill's was closed.

He couldn't bring himself to just sit down and work yet.

Sephiroth went and entered her untouched office.

Everything was stowed neatly as she prefered it. There was a lingering smell of her favorite blend of tea that permeated the air and he could almost imagine she was just late to work…

Except that had never happened without her sending a message explaining what was delaying her.

He flipped open his phone, scrolling through his messages to read the last thing she had sent him. Just before his service had cut out when he was flying past Junon.

' _Aeris is pining so hard right now, it's not even funny.'_

There came a sound at the door and Sephiroth jerked his head up. The door opened and Dark Nation entered. He cast about for a scent, pacing back and forth over the floor, whining softly. Sephiroth watched the forlorn animal quietly as he searched in vain for several moments before stopping by Rill's desk and scratching at it as if she were hiding inside it.

Sephiroth reached down and scratched the guardhound's ears.

"She's not here, boy." Dark Nation's ears were down as he concluded his favorite person _still_ wasn't here. He looked the perfect picture of dejection and misery.

Sephiroth opened the main drawer where Rill had always kept a small supply of snacks for Dark Nation and any hungry person who came by. He gave Dark Nation a piece of jerky which was accepted, and was about to close the door when he spotted something.

Her phone.

One of her old phones anyway. As her influence and importance grew in the company, so too did the quality of her technology. This older phone was still perfectly functional, she had always taken good care of all of her equipment. Someone, Rufus Shinra if he recalled, had insisted on securing her a new one.

He didn't think Rill would have held onto it.

He opened it, keyed in her password and made to look through her old messages. _Was this before or after the attempted summoning of the 'Chocobo Death Reaper'?_

But his eye was caught by a note on her screen.

 _Sephiroth, check voicemail._

Ah yes, the dreaded bane of his existence. Since Rill started working for him, the tedious process was one he hadn't needed to do for himself. She would take all his verbal messages, usually from department heads or older workers who couldn't quite move on to texting. That also meant she dealt with the women calling to propose to him, or screech and fangirl, or generally make an unwanted nuisance of themselves.

It was something he would have to do now that she was gone.

 _Gone…_

The black despair of believing she was dead enveloped him for a second. The empty space she had filled in his life loomed before him, large, vacant and utterly empty.

Sephiroth went through the unfamiliar motions of accessing his voicemail to distract himself.

Two messages were listed as priority. The new one played first. He only half listened to Heidegger say something menial about the failure to protect Nerilka in her journey to Junon. It was obviously the infantry's fault for dying too soon and not his heavy handed incompetence in handling the funds that were allotted for training said infantry.

Sephiroth deleted it with an impatience gesture.

The older message was already from a few days ago.

" _I don't know how long it will take you to actually check your voicemail-"_

Rill's voice sounded and Sephiroth straightened up abruptly, heart throbbing as he hung on every word.

" _-But I know you'll find this eventually."_ There came a long pause and Sephiroth wondered if she would simply stop there, if it was her idea of a joke. But she spoke again.

" _I don't want to assume anything. So, if you haven't already talked to Aeris, do it. As soon as possible. Don't let anyone, **anyone** , near the house who hasn't been cleared by Tseng or Veld. But...if you already have talked to her, then she'll have told you that I'm alright. She probably doesn't know exactly where I am, because I don't know exactly where I'm going. Just that I have to leave."_

Sephiroth wanted to scream, shout at the recording that she didn't have to go. That she wouldn't have had to if she only just told him…

" _Please, if you do nothing else for me, then please forgive me for not saying anything. I've kept this secret from the world for my whole life, Sephiroth. And it's a secret that would have cost me and my descendants our freedom if I stayed in Midgar."_

"I'm not angry, Rill. I forgive you, please, just-" Sephiroth spoke, unable to keep the words inside. "I love you, please, tell me where you are..." She seemed much less far away with her voice ringing in his ear even now, but the mechanical undertones of the recorded message robbed him of much of the relief the sound normally brought.

The voicemail carried on, unheeding of his confession.

" _I trust you, like you have always trusted me. So believe me when I say that I will be careful. I need to do this, Sephiroth. I don't know when I'll ever see you again, but please…"_

Her voice choked off for a second.

" _Please take care of my family, our family, and our friends. I don't want to go, but I have to. Please understand that I need to do this…_

 _Goodbye."_

Sephiroth stayed motionless for a long moment after the message came to an end.

Rill's voice had told him more than any word she had said.

She had been almost on the verge of tears as she made this message. But he still heard a strong, steely determination ringing in her voice that his nearly flawless memory recalled from a brief conversation almost three years ago. Long before they had become friends.

" _Not as I am now."_ There was will there. A silent, unspoken pledge to not be a victim, or someone to be protected forever, but to be someone who protected. Who fought. Who won.

Given what he now knew about Rill, the heavy burden of a nonhuman heritage and a cousin who was trapped in Shinra's grasp, that was suddenly clear.

There had always been a plan, an intent, to find someway to set Aeris free from the threat that never stood far away from her.

Her moves to give more ethnic rights to the infantry had included those who claimed heritage from older tribes near Bone Village.

Her work to make everything run smoother and bringing people to justice for their misdeeds or crimes.

Her very position, fingers over the pulse of the largest corporation in the world with many strings all leading back to her hands. A pilot of change and reformation that the company sorely needed.

Rill had been doing it all with the intent of finding a way for Aeris, and herself, to live without the fear of their ancestry bringing them into a life of enslavement and scientific study.

Equalizing the social and cultural rights of as many people as she could.

Making sure that executives were actually punished for abusing their privileges.

Status and influence that proved irrevocably that there was nothing inferior about the Cetra race that called for their brutalization at the hands of greedy men over the years.

This was her plan, her grand scheme to find a way to set herself and her future children free from the threat of Shinra. She'd have probably been able to pull it off too if her heritage hadn't been discovered.

A bloodless war that she had been fighting by herself.

Sephiroth knew he was watched, and he would be watched all the more now in the light of his grief after her 'death'. Watched for some sign of trauma that made him unstable and a threat.

If Rill actually were dead, that could easily happen. Without that slim hope from Aeris he probably would have stayed in his mindless monotony and never really recovered. But he knew she wasn't. And because she was, no matter how clever she was about hiding, there was the risk of someone finding her. So unless he wanted to turn Shinra Tower into a slaughterhouse, the best way to keep Rill safe would be to do whatever he could to ensure that everyone believed she was in fact dead.

He couldn't look for her. He was too visible, too obvious. The wound would be too fresh, he knew the media wouldn't leave him alone for months after this. They were already covering the story of his grief with speculation as to how he would cope with this tragic loss.

If he looked for her, if there was even the slightest hint in his behavior that indicated she was alive, the media would be chasing her as well. The story of her being alive would circulate around the world and she would be chased like a Muu until she was found.

The best way Sephiroth could ensure that the woman he loved survived and won her solitary war was by doing nothing.

The best way he could protect her was by doing nothing.

Sephiroth carefully put the phone containing Rill's farewell message down and clasped his hands together, forcing himself to remain motionless in spite of the whirlwind of emotions raging like Ifrit's hellfire inside him. The ache was a little less painful now, believing that she had simply left without a word for him personally.

Now he was just worried out of his mind.

-vVv-

It was as though she had never existed to the rest of the world.

Sephiroth heard a savage growl as Dark Nation protested the janitors intruding in Rill's office.

People would clean up her office, and he could think of no practical reason not to let them. There were already about two dozen applications seeking to take Rill's place as his secretary. Scanning through them told him that they were more interested in taking her place in his personal life than in her professional position. And those that weren't had the mistaken notion that they would have as much status as Rill had earned simply by fulfilling the same position.

He sent every application to the trash.

 _You cannot take her place._

The SOLDIERs seemed to have taken her 'death' the hardest. The parties, the chaos and liveliness had dwindled down to nothing, leaving only grim determination to exterminate AVALANCHE for taking her life. Their newfound zeal was such that even the splinter terrorist groups were swiftly being eliminated.

Everyone was moving on, in one way or another, and however reluctantly. There hadn't been any random acts from Reno, so Sephiroth assumed he was also coping with Rill's absence in his own way. Zack certainly hadn't been his old self since receiving the news. Thankfully, he had someone to turn to in the face of losing his best friend.

Every living being in the building seemed to be giving Sephiroth a wide berth, doubtless out of respect for his grief. He hoped they would continue to do so. His patience wouldn't stand up to much at the moment. After all, he was missing the most compelling reason to keep a tight hold on his temper.

Yet another email popped up, this time from Reno on a private network.

' _No luck, man. We had a lead to where they took her to wait things out. But she isn't there anymore. She left her phone in the hideout, took some materia, rations and winter gear, and just walked out. There's whiteout conditions for at least 100 miles in any direction to boot. We lost her.'_

Reno didn't apologize, and Sephiroth didn't expect him to. It wasn't his fault Rill knew how to play the system like a fish on the line. It stood to reason that the one who could always predict, troubleshoot and neutralize his errors, amusing quirks and notorious luck could evade his detection with equal ease.

Those tendencies would be what she would rely on, and Sephiroth would pray would be enough for her to survive until he saw her again. Because come hell or high water he would.

 _I'll give you the time you asked for, Rill._ He stared blankly at his computer screen as he erased Reno's message. _I'll give you time. I'll be patient._

 _For now._

* * *

 **A/N:** **Okay folks, here's where this one wraps up. This is the end of Part One of Rill's story. Part Two, titled Songs in the Light, is in production. In internal time, it will begin slightly before the start of the original Final Fantasy VII. Unfortunately, there will be a hiatus while my sister finishes the last few months of her mission. Full time posting will probably begin sometime in February of 2019. There may or may not be a sneak peek coming around Christmas, though! Thank you for reading and enjoying this story. It has been and will continue to be great seeing the love people have for Rill, Sephiroth, the Puppy, the Cockroach and everyone else!**


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